Today we’d like to take a moment to applaud the parents who despite many challenges, did they best they could and did right by their kids. We asked folks to share stories of what they feel their parents got right and have shared highlights below.

Megan Maundrell

I have a huge respect for my parents. I am fortunate to have been raised by parents who have consistently set me up for success by instilling in me both confidence in myself and a growth mindset. From a young age, they encouraged me to believe in my abilities and talents, emphasizing that I could achieve anything I set my mind to. Read more>>

Brent Estabrook

What my parents did right was the biggest stroke of luck in my life. I had incredible parents, both my mom and dad were amazing. We were a middle-class family, not wealthy but not struggling either. But what mattered most was that my parents were loving beyond measure. Read more>>

Monique Chambers

My parents were both entrepreneurs when I was growing up. My dad had been everything from a dog catcher in Alaska, owning his own line of beauty products, to being a record producer and even owned a radio station and my mom had been an interior decorator to owning her own nail salon for over 15 years. I suppose their examples taught me that skies the limit, you can do anything that you set your hearts desire to. Read more>>

Tanita Winchester

One thing I can say about my parents: THEY ARE HUSTLERS! I learned how to hustle from my Mom and Dad at an early age. I think that’s why I wanted to be an entrepreneur from childhood because I always had the creative and hustle mentality in me. I remember in high school, my Mom would give me lunch money but I would spend it in two days and she would get so mad at me lol. Read more>>

Aujile Riley

My parents practiced healthy eating habits, but I didn’t realize how much it had an impact on me until recently. I clearly remember there regularly being a basket of fruit on the table for an easy snacking. 90% of our meals were homecooked. And we ALWAYS ate vegetables with our lunch and dinner. Read more>>

Connie Sanders

One of the best gifts my parents ever gave to me was to start me with piano lessons at age five. Because of this, I’ve been able to read music as long as I’ve been able to read English, and I’ll always be grateful for that. Read more>>

Cara DeChurch

My parents are my rock. They are always there for me, and remind me of what’s really important. They remind me that after I fall and cry, I have to get back up. My mom has instilled in me faith, grit, and kindness. My dad encouraged individuality, resilience, and generosity. Together, they show me how be grateful for everything I have, and realize all my blessings. I will never be able to thank them enough for being as weird and amazing as they are. I truly don’t deserve them. Read more>>

Bethany Kowaleski

What my parents did right was raise me in a way that created healthy habits before I had a name for them like I do now, in my career. My parents are both from families with disease- my maternal grandparents had Diabetes and grandpa Heart Disease and my paternal grandparents had Heart Disease and Mental Health Disorders. Read more>>

Jessica Horton

My sisters and I frequently swap stories and laughs of the times we had in our yellow house that sat on a few acres of land, gently tucked down a long dirt road in Lillington, North Carolina. Man, my folks ran a tight ship with a house full of girls. Being one of the youngest, I never fully grasped the concepts of love and protection they showed us. Read more>>

Armov

My parents were refugees of war during the 1992 Abkhazia and Georgia conflict and survived nightmarish circumstances that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. My mother gave birth to me days after trekking hundreds of kilometers by foot, taxi, and train to escape military skirmishes. My parents are warriors in the noblest sense and their incredible story energizes me when I’m faced with difficulties. Read more>>

Jeff Glode Wise

My mother actively brought art into our lives as children, taking us to museums, free concerts in the park, and always having art supplies in the house. My father was a commercial pilot and was frequently gone, but he got us out into the woods and involved us in building projects around the house. Read more>>

Daniel Arabella

My parents, like all faliable humans do all sorts of things right and wrong. Most of us, as I am a parent now, really try to create and raise successful adults out of our offspring. Its easy to critique the past but impossible to change. I am sure my mom would have loved to change my dad’s constant distractions from his priorities as a “father”. Read more>>

Leah Ramillano

My parents highly prioritized my education and encouraged me to do well in all my academic experiences. I imagine it’s a sort of immigrant mentality to lean into formal education and how it’s tied to the idealization of the American Dream, but without knowing it explicitly, they taught me about diligence, consistency, persistence, asking for help when you need it, prioritization, and most of all generosity. Read more>>

Molly McKinnon

My parents? What didn’t they do right! They are incredible and both such an inspiration to me. They taught me the work ethic that I have today! Without them teaching me that hard work pays off, I truly don’t know if I would have the motivation that I do today to work as hard as I do. Not a day goes by that they aren’t rooting for me or cheering me on in my business. I could have asked for better role models not just when it comes to work ethic but as a person. I strive to be better every day because of them! Read more>>

Kirk Shannon

Growing up in the country most of my friends and family were into working on cars, dirt biking, going to the camp, fishing and other similar outdoor activities. Although I did enjoy those things as well, I also really wanted to stay inside, play video games and draw the characters and monsters I saw in those games. Read more>>

Hailee Norris

My parents have never stifled my creativity, no matter what form it has presented itself as. I have always been a very creative and musical person, and it didn’t matter what I was interested in, they would be there to help me and cheer me on. Over the last decade of my life, my creativity has shined through SFX and horror makeup. Read more>>

Celene Stanley

100%
 My mother, a single parent, has been the source of inspiration and strength throughout my life.We have shared many experiences that have taught me about perseverance. I continue to learn resilience and adaptability, through her, which has shaped my outlook on life. Read more>>

Tina Sams Maryanne Schwartz

Maryanne: Our father was a shadowy character to the other kids, but I spent the years from age 3 to 9 with him in and out of our home. He was fun and scary at the same time. Mom stressed his artistic talent, so creativity was always valued in our family. Our grandparents stepped up and took us (Mom and 5 kids) into their home. Read more>>

Laurie Markvart

As I wrote in my memoir, “Somewhere in the Music, I’ll Find Me,” my parents saw early on in my childhood that I had a natural ability to play music. They encouraged me by providing lessons in piano, voice, and guitar. Our family also has a rich history in music as pianists and singers, and while some found success, some also had difficulties with addictions. Read more>>

Ed Vega

I grew up in Hoboken, New Jersey, as a first generation American. At home for the first years of my life I was raised by my grandmother while my parents worked. My grandmother probably knew only 5-10 English words, so we spoke Spanish at home. One of the things that my mother did right was teach me how to read and teach me English from a very young age. Read more>>

Teonna Wells

My parents were and still are go getters. Their head is on strong and they tackle every obstacle that faces them. Growing up around that made me think differently. Over time I grew this confidence in myself. I knew I wasn’t meant to work for anybody. I wanted to utilize what my parents instilled into me but on a bigger scale. Read more>>

Yaslyn Lora

My parents both migrated from the Dominican Republic. My father came to this country at the young age of 12 and my mother came to this country in her late twenties. I say that because my father is fluent in English but my mother is not. At a very early age my mother prohibited my father from speaking English in our household because she wanted me to learn Spanish. I learned my second language, English, in Kindergarten. Read more>>

Miranda Blake

I love this topic because I don’t think it’s discussed enough. My parents raised me to the best of their ability with the tools they were given at the time. The one thing that I do think that they did right besides the way I was raised was… get a divorce. As depressing as it sounds, I am grateful for it happening. Read more>>

Cali Mesa

My mom and stepdad have always been the biggest supporters. I was raised by a single mom until she met my stepdad when I was around 7-8 years old. She was incredibly strong and grew me into the independent young woman that I am today. When I told my mom at a young age that I wanted to be a singer and performer, she did everything in her power to provide me with opportunities to follow my dream. Read more>>

Loser Company

There was always loud music playing in my house growing up. Everything from the Beatles to the Doobie Brothers. My parents weren’t musicians but they had great taste in music and that gave me a solid foundation. I always had the freedom to be myself so I listened to a wide variety of music. Read more>>

Mekai Ely

My parents are some of the most supportive, incredible people ever. I’ve always known I wanted to be my own boss, but I never knew which direction to go and every idea change, they were there and my number one fan. Growing up it was always the usual “you’re going to college no matter what,” the only difference from a lot of other parents was that more often than the college talk, we got the “choose a career that brings you joy. Your happiness is more important,” Read more>>

Lindy C Severns

My parents encouraged me to constantly learn and to reach beyond my grasp. During my early years, Mom was a commercial artist, Daddy, a high school basketball coach. Both were high achievers who constantly challenged themselves to learn and grow, pulling me right along with them. Because of them, “I can’t do that” wasn’t in my early vocabulary. When my mother was asked to create an animated television ad back in the early 1950’s, she said, “Sure,” then penned a personal letter to Walt Disney asking how to animate a drawing. Read more>>

Daleesha Nelson

Back then, I would’ve said they did everything wrong because I wasn’t able to do exactly what I wanted to do. But looking back at how I was raised now, they did everything right. Although I wasn’t in a two parent household, I was still taught lessons from each side. It was just me and my Mom for about 11 years. She worked 24/7. I never wanted for a thing, Read more>>

Sydney Adams

If I have anyone to credit with making me want to be an artist, it’s my mom. We would make up fun games when my sister and I were little, like: my mom would say, draw me an elephant playing the drums, and we would go draw it. She would also write words in pencil on a piece of paper and I would trace over them in pen. She has excellent handwriting, Read more>>

Aubryn

My mom was always super supportive of my passion for music growing up. She took me to Nashville to meet with a producer and record my first demo when I was around 13 and has always been on the lookout for opportunities. When someone asked what my “backup plan was” she stood by me because I knew this is what I always wanted to do. She got me into piano and voice lessons and youth theater and really nurtured my creative talents. Read more>>

Ashley Crane

My parents encouraged me to have a well rounded education, and try a ton of new things! They supported me in my interests and equipped me with confidence and an ability to self-teach & problem solve. I knew that I wanted to be a storyteller from a young age, and they listened to my stories, watched my living room plays, read my short stories, and then signed me up for writing and theater classes and did whatever they could to help me explore my interests. Read more>>

Sanjay Vora

Much of what I have become is because of my parents. It could not have been easy for them as Indian immigrants to come to this country, have children, and then support their interests in art and music. I am grateful that, they too, were musicians themselves and had broken from some of the traditions and cultural pressures that often dictate the lives of first generation children in the US. Read more>>

De’Shawna Yamini

I was raised by a single mother who taught me responsibility early on. I remember my mom saying one day, “You have such beautiful handwriting! Can you help me by completing this check and addressing this envelope?” So she told me where to write what, and I did so in the best cursive I could, happy that my mom liked my handwriting. Read more>>

Tom Antonellis

Rosemary and Tommy Antonellis, both creative artists in their own rights, told us (my sister, Julee and I) that we could do anything we wanted to. I know that’s a message that good parents send regularly though it must be followed up by the parent(s) with action. Read more>>

Amanda Gremillion

My mom and stepdad broke many generational curses inspiring me to break even more. They were both born into poverty and families with a history of mental illness, and worked their way out of poverty while I was growing up. They were always very open and honest about money and about mental health struggles. They were always there for me to talk to and for help in any way and still are, even when we do not see eye to eye. Read more>>