Sorry this is a little rant-ish and long but I need to say it somewhere. (I also wanna state that even thought this is a rant about them, I do actually have a mom who I appreciate and a dad who I have a least a small relationship with. Although they have many flaws they still did a better job than ALOT of other parents out there.)

Anyone else feel like their parents don’t give a f*ck whenever they actually achieve anything? How do you deal with this? In my family it has always been about hard work, and thats fine I guess. I’ve learned a really good work ethic from my parents and they have pushed me to be my best self. Heck I’ve even become harder on my self than they have ever been on me.

For context, only one of them has a university degree. And I would also like to point out that school was generally not too difficult for either of them. My brother and I on the other hand, struggle. The difference between the two of us is I work my ass off to even be considered decent and he just says f*ck it and barely passed high school. But yet somehow anything I ever achieve is just treated like a given. Like I was expected to just do these things anyways.

When I was in middle school I really wanted to go this specialized arts high school, so I worked hard on my portfolio even though I was up against kids who had had art lessons their whole life. Then when I was accepted, it was like they just assumed I would get in. In high school a bunch of my friends were on the honour roll two years in a row and I wanted to be on it SO bad. So the next two years I worked really hard and got honour roll in my 11th grade year and 12th grade year and also got recognized for a special award. Once again, it was as if that was just expected of me even thought I struggled with school a lot and even have a learning disability. Then I wanted to go to university (which was also expected) and got accepted by two top schools and was put on the wait list for another very prestigious one. It wasn’t even acknowledged when the acceptance letters came in the mail.

Now, I finally graduated in December after working my a*s off in a VERY intense program. I graduated with HONOURS in TWO majors and have an extracurricular list the length of my damn arm! Additionally, I also managed to snag a contract at one of the biggest companies in my industry right away in February just before Covid happened. (My dad’s first question when I told him about the contract was where I saw my next TWO contracts coming from.... Also unfortunately the place is now closed and my industry won’t be back up and running for a while.)

And yet when my degree finally came in the mail today, no one seemed to bat an eyelash. I have been scrolling through social media watching my friends’ parents have mini grads for them and little parties with cake and decorations or even just making a post about how proud they are. I told my mom I wanted to put the degree up on my bedroom wall and she acted like it was the dumbest thing to do. She said she never put her degree up anywhere and that most people she knows have one so it’s not that big of a deal. EXCUSE ME? Not that big of a deal? (Trigger warning) It took me 4.5 years to complete and I almost killed myself at one point... Idk... maybe it would be nice if they could just for a SECOND recognize the time and effort I put into things to be at least the small amount of successful that I am? (If you could even call it that.)

Of course due to Covid my life is in shambles right now, but getting that piece of paper today felt at least a little good and then they had to shit on it. Anyone else feel like they work and work and work and the one person they are trying to impress never gives a sh*t? How do you deal with it? I have a feeling the further away from school I get, and the more I ever achieve, the less they will even care. Please for the love of god reprimand your kids when they do things wrong, but NEVER forget to congratulate them when they do something right! Anyone know what to do when you feel this way?