How often do we thank our parents?

Spending time alone with your parents is sheer joy. Every time I get free time I sit with my father either talking to him or reading a book with him. Losing a parent has taught me the real value of parents and I make it a point that I never lose time while I have it to be with the only one I am left with. So I usually prefer being left alone with him rather than attending some function happening at a neighbor’s or going for a movie.

It was one such time when I was at home a few weeks ago. I and my father were the only ones at home. After lunch we were sitting outside in the sun, when he wanted to take bath and I told him I will prepare hot water for his bath. It took me about half an hour to heat up the water and prepare the water for his bath. As I was almost done preparing the water, I asked him to get a towel and get into the bath. After a few minutes, he emerged out of his room with a towel and some clothes to be changed into. I told him the water was ready in the bathroom. He said, “Thank you”. A mere ‘thank you’ by a grateful father to his daughter but that brought back memories of my own childhood. Each time I needed to take a bath, my father would always heat up the water and reach it till the bathroom. All I had to do was take a towel and take bath. As I reached back into those memories, I didn’t remember ever thanking my father for the deed. Preparing the water for my bath is but just a minor part of the things he has done for me and my siblings, apart from that there are a lot of greater things that my father has done for us but then I never thanked him for any of those. In fact I don’t remember ever thanking my parents for anything they did for me.

Likewise, it had me thinking about how many children of my age and the ones older than me would have thanked their parents. I suppose, kids these days thank their parents for things they do for them. For example, my niece who is in the sixth standard this year thank her mother every time after getting her mother’s help with her homework and she thank her father for things he does for her. Modernization and education have brought both the kids and the parents to the next level. I do not mean that the older generations have not been educated. There are those who are highly educated but their parents are not. So, even if the kids thank their parents it would be of less value as the parents would not understand it in the first place. Secondly, even if the kids thank the parents, then they are bound by the stereotypical thinking of the people. While the educated knows, what it means, when the kids thank their parents, people in the villages understand it less. I suppose this is one reason why the kids don’t thank their parents even when they are thankful.

I am not sure, what was the reason behind me not thanking my parents for anything they did for me though I was thankful for those deeds. I now often think, was it the surrounding that I was brought up in or was it the elders that I followed that had that effect on me? Though I have been brought up in both urban and rural places, I have not had that experience of meeting someone like myself thanking their parents. And they may not have done so as they like me may not have met someone who would thank their parents. And the elders may not have thanked their parents because their elders did not do so. So it probably comes from times immemorial. But now I can see the change happening. And even I make started thanking my father for everything he does for me. It was happiness I experienced. That, ‘thank you’ was another gift my father gave me. I learned, what it is like to be thanking my father for what he does for me. Otherwise my parents would never have known how thankful I am to them.

Thank you Apa and Ama. I am glad you are my parents. I love you guys. :)