DON’T continue to spurn your parents with the unforgiving heel of adolescence. Now is the time to embrace them, apologize profusely to them, and reaffirm that they are a) people and b) actually kind of cool, when you think about it. This is the opportunity for a beautiful new “adult friends” stage in your relationship, one in which you can get drunk with them and hear humiliating stories about their/your past. Embrace it.
-This one was hard for me but I'm better at it now. I am heading home this month for a friends wedding. I have that Sunday free and asked my Dad if I could have a BBQ with some friends at my parents house. He asked me if I wanted he and my mom to leave the house. I said, "no, I think my friends and you would have a lot to talk about" -the cool thing is I meant it. I love having a drink with my father, I like that I not only get advice from him but now I'm able to give him some as well. My father's only 20 years older than me so at times we feel more like contemporaries than father/son.