To ask where you were going, 
with whom, and what time you would be home.

To insist that you save your money and buy
a bike for yourself even though we
could afford to buy one for you.

To be silent and let you discover that your
new best friend was a creep.

To make you take a Milky Way 
back to the drugstore (with a bite out of it) and tell the clerk, "I stole this yesterday and want to pay for it."

To stand over you for two hours while you cleaned
your room, a job that would have taken 15 minutes.

To let you see anger, disappointment and tears in my eyes.
Children must learn that their parents aren't perfect.

To let you assume the responsibility for your actions
even when the penalties were so harsh they almost
broke my heart.
But most of all,