parents make mistakes too

I never thought we, the teenagers, would learn from our
parents mistakes. Not the mistakes they did in the past and tell us to not
follow, but the mistakes they are making now. In fact, it never occurred to me
that there will be a time when we will stop trying to be as beautiful, mature
and high spirited as our parents are.

In Ms.Robbins book club I read What I Saw And How I Lied by
Judy Blundell. Evie and her parents moved to Florida after her father returned
from World War 2. Evie meets Peter, who served for her father’s company in the
war, and falls for him.

Evie feels like her mother is the intruder in her
relationship with peter. But then she finds out that she herself was the
intruder.

Evie’s mother did not just make a mistake that only affected
her and her marriage but it affected her daughter. Without knowing it, she was
hurting her daughter and I don’t think those were her intentions. She created a
problem on herself but made it everyone’s problem.

I guess that’s wrong with mistakes. They hurt not just you
but everyone around you. They are things that can be stopped with just a little
will and push, but ones we do them we have no control over them anymore. Because
ones we create the mistake we cannot go back and stop them from happening.

At first Evie wanted to be just as beautiful as her mother. Her
mother was perfect in Evie’s eyes. She tried everything. She tried to be
mature, wear nice dresses, and put on makeup. She tried to have a man and be
fun, but it got her nowhere. Instead she found out that her “seems as perfect”
mother was less beautiful than she could imagine.

My mother always tells me to not do the same mistakes she
did in the past. Like become pregnant in my teens, choosing not to go to
college even though I have the opportunity etc. I know she was not perfect back
then, but I never thought that she was not perfect now.  When I asked her what mistakes she has had in
the last year, she did not hide them. Instead, she told me straightforward that
she had done many mistakes in her friendships, job and even in her marriage.

I understood that we all are still like kids no matter how
old we are. All, parents and children’s, make mistakes everyday and learn from
them. I will still be making mistakes in 30 years but not the same ones. They
will be different because we learn from our mistakes.