This morning I want to turn our thoughts a different direction for Parenting Tuesday. Instead of writing for parents, this article is for the offspring of parents (or those adopted by their parents). This is for YOU, the reader. Make today Parent Appreciation Day. Take time out of your schedule to: 1) Call your parents; 2) Write your parents a letter (note); 3) Send them a personal email or Facebook message; 0r 4) Talk to them in person. If your parents are no longer living, take a moment to reflect on what they did for you in life.
Here is what I am sending to Brian and Anna McCown (my parents). Dad reads this blog, so he will get it twice.
Mom and Dad at Birmingham Botanical Gardens, May 2012
Mom & Dad,
Thank you so much for the life you gave me and the training (discipline) you provided. Thank you for setting an example for your three boys concerning the importance of faith, education, marriage, and family. Specifically: Thank you for making sure you raised us in a faith based home where we did not just attend church, but were a part of the religious community and Christianity was part of our life at home. Thank you for seeing that we were in school and completed our assignments. Thanks for the help with math, reading, spelling, and Mom, thanks for typing all those papers. Thank you for supporting all three of us through college. I know that all three of us in our own way have said thank you for your example of what a marriage can be and for providing the stability a strong marriage gives to children.
Through the years, I see more and more how your consistency and your correction of my inconsistencies helped shape me into who I am today and to protect me from the dangers of a misspent youth. I pray that Amy and I are to Andrew what you were and are to me. Do you recall that time that I . . . oops! This is a public blog, so I will leave out any details. Let me just say, you were there for me then and always. Thank you.
In Loving Appreciation,
“Son #2” – Scott
Driving Thought 
Thank you my son for your comments. We try to be good parents as we never stop being parents. Dad.
I hope you know you are appreciated.
I love this. Here’s mine:
Dear Mom and Dad,
Thank you for being wonderful parents. I know now (not as fully as I will one day) that it is a truly under appreciated job. As I’ve grown up a little and seen other children who were not raised in a Christian home with loving and supportive parents, and I’ve seen the outcome of such an unfortunate case, I realized that I have been truly blessed on so many levels.
First of all, thank you for putting God first. Thank you for raising me to make the righteous decision, which is rarely the easy decision, by first doing that yourselves. Thank you for making church attendance a nonnegotiable. Worshipping God was always and continues to be a priority over family, school and all other things in your home, and I strive to do the same in my new home. Thank you for answering my faith based questions with a serious and biblically based answer rather than blowing me off. Thank you for teaching me to think for myself and to work out my own faith. I realize now, that by not allowing me to have a “lazy” mind, I have a stronger faith than my peers who were told what to believe.
Second, thank you for setting such a great example for what marriage should be. I truly believe that your marriage and example has helped me in my own marriage. Thank you for never disrespecting each other or arguing. If it ever happened, it was never in front of me. Thank you for being an allied front even when you did not necessarily agree. Dad, thank you for showing me how a wife should be treated. Mom, thank you for showing me how to treat my husband.
Thank you for continuing to be a parent to me. Although I do not believe that I am the narcissist and sociopath that I was as a teenager, I still need your help and guidance. Thank you for being there still to answer my questions, give advice, and encourage.
I love you very much!
Melissa