My parents were/are awesome. Really thankful for 99% of what they taught me and can’t say enough good things about either of them.
One thing that comes to mind that I wish wasn’t such a focus is my Dad’s insistence that “if it’s important, you’ll get it done”... it was kind of the default response for any time/priority related questions that came up.
It seems to make sense and there’s a certain air of taking responsibility, but it leaves no room for a truly full schedule or a kind interpretation of anyone else’s actions. If something didn’t get done, it obviously wasn’t important enough to the person that needed to do it.
As I’ve gotten older and had to choose between important things like family, work, friends, school, yourself, and all the other demands we have, it’s taken a long time to recognize the gray area of battling priorities we’re all living in. That’s a lot of failures and disappointments based on a mantra that’s a little too absolute for the real world.