My life hack is maybe kinda silly, but I’ve pretty much always made it super hard for my dad to raise me. The last few years I’ve almost always talked back to him or started fights about little stuff he tells me to do, or rules he wants me to follow. I used to question almost everything I didn’t feel like doing – even if it wasn’t really that hard – and then we ended up fighting a lot. I was often kinda sad about those fights, ‘cause actually I love my dad sooo much, but it was like I felt I had to argue back, just because, you know… brain says “fight!” (ADHD mode 😅). And I know my dad was sad too that we fought so much.
But then this really rough thing happened at school last spring. It made me super sad, and it felt like everyone was against me. I don’t wanna say what it was, ‘cause it’s waaay too personal. But the worst part? Dad had warned me about it sooo many times. He told me not to do certain things, he tried so hard to get me to think about it, and I just called him a “boomer” and yelled at him that I had the right to be who I am, and that he’s old and doesn’t get anything. 🙄
And then—bam—it turned out exactly the way he had warned me. He was right, I was wrong, and it really hurt. But you know what? He never once said “I told you so.” Nope. Instead, he took time off work just to fix everything for me. He literally turned the whole school upside down for my sake, and even sat with me in the classroom every single day for 3 weeks so I dared to go back. That’s when I realized: he actually knows stuff I don’t know yet, ‘cause I’m still a kid and he’s got all this experience. So I decided to stop fighting him so much and actually trust that he knows better about most things (okay, maybe not about gaming, what’s cool, or music taste 🤣🤣).
Now I listen to him almost all the time, and we hardly fight anymore. Everything is sooo much better when I respect him and follow the rules he sets. I know it doesn’t sound very “cool” to obey your parents, but honestly that’s my life hack—just listen to Dad. He told me it’s still his life hack too! And when I think about it, I’ve seen it: even though he’s grown up and a parent himself, he still listens to Grandpa. If Grandpa tells him something, he kinda follows it, even though he doesn’t have to—’cause he’s not a kid anymore.
So yeah… I think if everyone listened to their parents a bit more, life would be easier.