A message to parents

I am not a parent, but I have observed a lot of parents in my life and I've heard lots of people talk about their parents and I've come to this conclusion: parents underestimate themselves. My friends with young children often lament that they must be the worst parents ever. I would have to say that  you are wrong. Of course there is no such thing as the perfect parent unless we're talking heavenly, but just because you make some mistakes does not make you a bad parent.
If your child has the basic necessities of life and feels safe and knows they are loved then you are doing a fantastic job. If you read with your child and take them to the park and maybe even the occasional outing to the zoo or museum, you're actually what some may call, an overachiever. I'm being serious. There are so many children who don't get that. Sometimes it's not actually the parents "fault" per say, they are working 3 jobs just to try and meet that first requirement of basic necessities. Your kid may not always act like they think you are doing a good job. They want this or want to do that and they scream that they hate you and I'm sure that really sucks.
But someday your 31 year old daughter will call you from institute to have you help her fix the projector at institute because she's on a time crunch and she knows you will be able to fix it faster than she will. Or she will call you to help her with her homework and you'll be on the phone with her for 2 hours (while you miss dancing with the stars) helping her find visuals for her lesson plan. And she'll drive to work and think "man I won the parent jackpot." And you can know that even though maybe you didn't do everything like you should of, your child loves you and he/she recognizes the love and sacrifice you continually make for him/her. And I hope you know that God sees what you are doing and He is helping you.
You're doing better than you think you are.