I used to be the rudest little thing to my parents up until AFTER High school. I can't believe how ungrateful and rude I was. College really changed me. Hopefully your daughter will learn. I think that sharing your struggles with her would help. My parents talking about what they went through helped me realize what they went through and made me feel grateful towards them. Losing a mother must also be hard for her.

I guess this is the challenge of parenting. In fact, it’s probably the one area where most parents fail as well. It makes it even more difficult to deal with when living in a world of instant gratification. I can assure you that parenting is anything but instant gratification. 🙂

It reminds me of that dua regarding parents that says, “My Lord, bestow on both of them Your mercy just as they did bring me up when I was small”. I think it’s only through being a parent that we realise how difficult it is. It’s not about having authority over our children, or being able to exercise that authority at will (though not always successfully either), but it’s about trying to forge a bond that spans a generation gap the likes of which we have never seen before. I think it was Ali (RA) that said:

Do not force your children to behave like you, for surely they have been created for a time which is different to your time

It’s not always easy to remember this when it’s most needed.