When they ignore you.
When they hate your food.
When they don’t want to watch a movie with you.
When they constantly forget to do the thing you asked them to do.
When they try drugs.
When they have a different opinion.
When they question your character.
When they judge your parenting.
When they critique your marriage or relationships with others.
When you don’t see eye to eye.
When they half ass their chores.
When they get drunk.
When they don’t want you there.
When they really need you there.
When they ignore you.
When they want you to keep your voice down.
When they want you to wait in the car.
When they aren’t nice to you, specifically, yet nice to everyone else.
When they are self involved.
When they make decisions you don’t agree with.
When they don’t want to talk about it.
When they forget to put that away.
When there are dirty dishes in their room.
When they borrow that.
When they don’t care about it as much as you do.
When you aren’t being fair.
When they have sex.
When you have no idea how they feel or what they are thinking.
When you can’t relate.
When they want something different.
When they expect the maximum while giving less than minimum.
When they make excuses.
When they fail that class.
When they hate your idea.
When they date that person.
When they wear those clothes.
When they listen to that “garbage”.
When they pierce that.
When they don’t want your help.
When they want you to do it all.
When they assume you’re an idiot.
When they never experienced your trauma.
When they don’t realize how much longer you have been alive.
When they forget you have seen some shit.
When they forget you were/are someone’s child too.
When they forget you were little once.
When they can’t see all your bills, chores or to do lists.
When they have never been in your shoes.
When you’ve never been in their shoes.
When you realize you grew up in a different time, a different world.
When they don’t remember you have feelings.
When they have never been married . . . or divorced.
When they have never been fired.
When you forget they are new here.
When you forget their amygdala isn’t quite done yet.
When you forget they are still trying to figure it all out.
When they are struggling to figure out who they are.
When they can’t fathom needing to keep another human alive, healthy and happy.
When they have no experience maintaining a job, a home or a family.
When they can’t possibly know what it’s like to be a parent.
It’s not personal. It’s being human and being a live. It’s being a kid. It’s figuring it out.
It’s just not personal.
*Reminders I need at the moment.
