“Second chances are a gift, not a hand-out. Learn from your mistakes, try harder, and strive for something better.” Like this quote that I have heard a lot throughout my life, I too believe that life always gives you second chances, but they are given for a reason; for change. People make mistakes. Let’s face it, we are humans and we are not perfect. Even the people with most age, authority, knowledge make mistakes. Parents have a huge responsibility on their shoulders, having to raise a human being since day one of their existence and knowing that anything and everything they do, right or wrong, will affect the child’s future. It is a situation that might be too much to handle and well they too are bound to make mistakes. There are many different kinds of parents in this world, good and bad, but a good parent is the one who is accepting, caring, and proud.
In the book I read in my English class, titled The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, there are different examples of good and bad parents. In the book there is an imperfect parent who struggles to raise his son as a single dad by the name of, Baba. Baba is not the most accepting nor caring nor proud parent. For example on page 81-82 of The Kite Runner, Amir is just wanting to spend time with his father, but like always, Baba wants to bring Hassan along, the servant. Throughout the story it seemed like Amir always had to fight and struggle for Baba’s attention and a reason to make him proud. On page 56 Amir says, “There was no other viable option. I was going to win, and I was going to run that last kite. Then I’d bring it home and show it Baba. Show him once and for all that his son was worthy. Then maybe my life as a ghost in this house would finally be over.” Amir’s main goal was to give Baba something so he can be proud of and that is all Amir ever strode for.
My parents aren’t perfect, they do commit mistakes, but they have been amazing to my brother and me. My parents are super supportive with my brother’s and my decisions and dreams, as long as they don’t affect us in our future. For example, all my life I’ve wanted to become a teacher. My parents know it is not the highest paying career but they still support me in becoming a teacher. I know my parent care about me and love me, but they are not very affectionate sometimes, so it is hard for my brother and I to tell how they really feel for us. They rarely tell us they love us, only hug on special occasions, but my brother and I both know that that is how they are and that just because they don’t hug us as often nor tell us how much they love us as often does not mean they don’t love us nor care about us. My parents are not like Baba. My brother, my family and I spend a lot of time together. On weekends, my brother and I know we can’t go out because it is the time we spend together as a family. I love my parents and I think they are doing a fantastic job in raising their two children.
At the beginning of the story Baba wasn’t the best parents someone could have, but as time passed in the book Baba finally learned to accept his son for who he is and started to support Amir’s dream of becoming a writer. Baba got his second chance to make his and his son’s relationship a better one and just like Baba got a second chance so does everybody who ever does anything wrong, but you should always make that chance worth overlooking all that wrong. My parents aren’t perfect at being parents either. They can improve on being more affectionate with their children, because sometimes that is what we children need to hear and feel. But not everybody is going to be perfect, especially not at parenting, but a good parent will always be accepting, caring and proud of their children no matter what.