A young woman who grew up in our church has just gone public on Facebook with a major criticism of her father - a friend of mine. She acknowledges that he was a decent person, a good provider, stable, non-abusive and all that but faults him for...well I'm only partly sure...not being deeply supportive enough of his wife. He lacked a certain je nais se qua (inside joke) of...romance? indefatigable nurture? She relates this to her own marriage and parenting and how after ten years they "weren't dating" anymore, but THIS YEAR they have turned over a new leaf and are being wonderfully married. Way better than before, which was already good, just not...something.
One of my standard lines for decades I will say again, but this time in all-caps, because yes, I am shouting: DON'T CRITICISE YOUR PARENTS UNTIL YOUR OWN CHILDREN ARE GROWN.
As I’ve grown older, I’ve decided that I must have been a disappointment to my father; but he never said so. My mother keeps telling me that he’d be proud. But I don’t feel like I have standing to criticize him, even now that my son is grown.
ReplyDeleteI'm putting down 50 dollars now your young woman gets divorced in 5-10 years, announcing it with some quote from "eat Pray Love".
ReplyDeleteI much prefer to criticize my parents to their face. It’s a lot funnier that way. Doing it on Facebook is just rude.
ReplyDeleteWell that means none of my kids can criticize me for probably twenty-five years which works out great. I'll either be dead or I'll forget it immediately.
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