Dammit, My Parents Were Right

It took raising two kids of my own to finally realize that Mom and Dad actually knew what they were doing.

- By Kevin Fredericks

BACK IN MY TEENAGE DAYS, my parents used to complain about me not being around. I even made it my business to let them know how boring it was to be in the house with them before I rode off on my bike and into the sunset. Now I have two teenage sons, Isaiah (Zay Zay) and Josiah (Jojo)—and they no longer want anything to do with me. I'm not even their favorite comedian. Tony Baker is.

Kids will deflate your ego. And now that I've been humbled by my own children, I've started to realize that a lot of the lessons my mom and dad passed on to me were actually pretty good lessons. Like:

LESSON #1: "IT NEVER GETS EASY-YOUR WORRY JUST CHANGES"

MY DAD used to say this when my wife and I were young, clueless parents. When Zay Zay and Jojo were babies, our main concerns were things like SIDS or them choking. We couldn't wait for the kids to grow up so it could all be simpler.