essay about parents sacrifices

Student Essays

9 Essays on My Parents | Why I Love my Mom & Dad [ 2024 ]

Our parents are our heroes. We can never deny the role and value of parents in our life. The following essay discusses the importance, role, love, and sacrifices of parents for children.

Essay on Parents For Children & Students

The life without parents is a worst life ever. Parents are support and shade for us. The value of parents in our lives can never be ignored. They play a very great role in our lives. They protect us and give every sacrifice to make us happy and pleased. Parents are our true guardians. The are the real reasons of our success and happiness in this world.

I Love my Parents

I love my parents. They are standing beside me in my every walk of life. My hero is my mom. She wakes up early in the morning. She works for our family from dawn to dusk. She is the best house manager. She takes care of everything in our house.

As soon she wakes up, she starts thinking about ourselves. She runs to the kitchen. She prepares tasty breakfast for us. Her breakfast is always delicious. She takes great care in making the food of our choice. After making our tasty breakfast, my mother quickly fills up our lunch boxes with tasty food.

She always fills our lunch boxes with additional tasty food so that we can share that our friends. I really appreciate my parents and especially my mom.

The Role of Mother & Father in our Life

The love of mother is simply matchless. Soon after we come home after school is up, we always find our mother standing at the gate of our house. We feel very pleased and my mother hugs all of us.

Read Also: My Father Essays & Paragraphs For Students

She take great care of our health. She regularly consult with our family doctor so that we stay healthy and strong. in addition to housework, my mother also help us in our school homework. She is best at drawing. She drawing fancy pictures, portraits and cartoons. We all feel wonderful at her drawing skills.

My hero is my dad. The father is always considered as an unsung hero. But it is not the fact. In addition to mother, the value, role and responsibility of father is always prideful. We all greatly love our father. My father is an Engineer. Though he is always busy in his schedule yet he takes good care of all of us.

We all family members go to weekly dinner and sightseeing outside. In addition to that, during our summer vacation we all family members go to country side trip. We all enjoy a lot there. My father is always concerned for everything about us. Though he is busy in his job yet he always remembers everything about us.

The love of parents for their children is of great value . Had there been no support of parents we would not have been here. We would not have smiled, laughed and became successful. Therefore, we must appreciate our parents for so many reasons.

We must try to help our parents by fulfilling their desires of being successful. We must thank God for blessing us with the support, guide and protection of our parents. May our Parents live long happily and peacefully.

Essay on My Parents for Class 1:

My parents are the most important people in my life. They have always been there for me, supporting and guiding me through every step of my journey. I am very lucky to have them as my parents.

My mother is a homemaker and she takes care of our family with so much love and dedication. She wakes up early every day to prepare delicious meals for us and makes sure that our home is always clean and organized. She has taught me the value of hard work, discipline and kindness.

My father is a businessman and he works very hard to provide for our family. He has always encouraged me to follow my dreams and never give up on them. He has also instilled in me the importance of being responsible and independent.

Together, my parents have raised me to be a kind, compassionate and responsible person. They have always supported my education and extracurricular activities, and have taught me the importance of balancing both.

I am grateful for all the sacrifices they have made for me and I hope to make them proud in everything I do. My parents are my role models and I aspire to be like them one day. Their unconditional love and support is something I will always cherish. I am blessed to have them as my parents.

Essay on My Parents For Class 2:

My parents are the most important people in my life. They take care of me, love me unconditionally and support me in everything I do. I feel blessed to have such wonderful parents.

My mom is a kind and loving person. She works hard to provide for our family and always puts our needs before her own. She makes the best food and always makes sure that I am well-fed and healthy. She also helps me with my studies and teaches me important values like honesty, kindness, and compassion.

My dad is my hero. He is a strong and hardworking man who always puts his family first. He is my role model and has taught me to never give up on my dreams. He plays with me, takes me to the park and helps me with my homework. I love spending time with him.

I am lucky to have such loving parents who always support and encourage me. We share a special bond that cannot be described in words. They are always there for me when I need someone to talk to or when I need a shoulder to cry on.

My parents mean everything to me. They have given me the best childhood and have taught me important life lessons. I am grateful for their love, care, and guidance. I hope to make them proud in everything I do. I will always cherish the memories we create together as a family and will forever be grateful for having such amazing parents . So, I will always love and respect them with all my heart. They are my superheroes! They are the foundation of my happiness and success in life

Essay on My Parents For Class 3

My parents are the most amazing people in my life. They have given me the best gift of all time, which is my life. I am so grateful to them for bringing me into this world and making me who I am today.

My father is a hardworking man. He works tirelessly every day to provide for our family. He never complains and always puts his family first. I have learned the value of hard work and determination from him.

My mother is a kind, caring, and loving person. She takes care of us in every way possible. She makes sure that we are well-fed, clean, and happy at all times. She also teaches me important values like respect, honesty, and compassion.

Together, my parents make a great team. They support each other in every decision they make and always put their family first. They have taught me the importance of family and how to be there for your loved ones no matter what.

I am truly blessed to have such amazing parents who love me unconditionally and have always been there for me through thick and thin . I cannot imagine my life without them and I will always be grateful for everything they have done for me.

In conclusion, my parents are the best gift of my life. They are my role models, my teachers, and my biggest supporters. I am proud to call them my parents and I hope to make them proud in everything I do. So, we all should love and respect our parents as they are the ones who have given us this beautiful life. They deserve all the love and appreciation in the world. Let’s cherish them and make them feel special every day! So, let’s take a moment to thank our parents for everything they have done for us and continue to do so.

Essay on My Parents For Class 4:

My parents are the most important people in my life. They have shaped me into the person I am today and have always been there for me through thick and thin. In this essay, I will be talking about my parents and how they play a vital role in my life.

My Parents – My Pillars of Strength

My mother is a homemaker and my father is a businessman. They both have different personalities but complement each other perfectly. My mother is kind, gentle and always puts others before herself. My father is hardworking, ambitious and always strives to achieve his goals.

Lessons Learned from my Parents

From my parents, I have learned many important life lessons that have helped me become a better person. They have taught me the value of hard work, determination and perseverance. They have always encouraged me to follow my dreams and never give up no matter how difficult the journey may be.

Role Models for Life

Both my parents are my role models. They have shown me what it means to be selfless, loving and caring towards others. They have also instilled important values in me such as honesty, respect, and responsibility. Their unconditional love and support inspire me to be a better person every day.

Supporting Me in Every Step of My Journey

My parents have always been there for me no matter what. They have supported my decisions and stood by me through all the ups and downs of life. Their guidance and encouragement have helped me overcome challenges and achieve my goals.

My parents are my greatest blessings. They are the ones who have always believed in me and pushed me to be the best version of myself. I am grateful for their love, sacrifices, and dedication towards our family. I hope to make them proud by becoming a successful and responsible individual just like them

Essay on My Parents For Class 6

My parents are the most important people in my life. They have always been there for me, supporting and guiding me through every step of my journey. I am truly grateful to have them as my role models.

My father is a hardworking man who has taught me the value of perseverance and dedication. He works tirelessly to provide us with all the comforts of life and never complains about his responsibilities. He is my strength and I know that I can always count on him for anything.

My mother is the epitome of love, care and sacrifice. She has always put our needs before her own and has taught me to be selfless. She has instilled in me the importance of education and has been my biggest cheerleader throughout my academic journey.

Together, my parents have taught me the true meaning of love, respect and family. They have always been there to celebrate my successes and lift me up in times of failures. They have made countless sacrifices to ensure that I receive the best opportunities in life.

Apart from being amazing parents, they are also wonderful individuals who inspire me every day. My father’s intelligence and my mother’s kindness are traits that I admire and hope to emulate.

I am truly blessed to have such loving, caring and supportive parents who have shaped me into the person I am today. They are my biggest blessings and I will always be grateful for their unconditional love and unwavering support. So, I want to thank them from the bottom of my heart for everything they have done for me and continue to do. I hope to make them proud in all my future endeavors and be there for them just like they have been there for me. My parents are my greatest treasure and I am forever grateful to have them in my life.

Essay on Parents Role in our Life:

Parents are the first and most important teachers in a child’s life. They play a crucial role in shaping their children’s behaviors, attitudes and beliefs. From infancy to adulthood, parents guide and support their children to reach their full potential.

One of the primary responsibilities of parents is to provide love and care for their child. Children need a nurturing environment where they feel loved, safe and appreciated. This enables them to develop a strong sense of self-worth and confidence, which is essential for their emotional well-being.

Parents also have the responsibility to instill values and morals in their children. They act as role models for their kids and teach them important life lessons such as honesty, respect, kindness, empathy and responsibility. These values shape the character of children and help them become responsible, compassionate and ethical individuals.

Moreover, parents are the first ones to introduce their children to education. They encourage and support their kids in learning new things, whether at home or in school. Parents also play a crucial role in monitoring their child’s academic progress, providing necessary resources and helping them overcome any challenges they may face.

Aside from these roles, parents also serve as a source of emotional support for their children. They are there to listen, comfort and guide their kids through tough times. This support is vital in helping children develop resilience and coping skills.

In conclusion, parents play a significant role in the development of their children. From providing love and care to instilling values, encouraging education and offering emotional support, parents are the cornerstone of a child’s growth and well-being. We must recognize and appreciate the important role that parents play in our lives, and strive to support and learn from them as we navigate through life.

My Relationship with My Parents Essay:

Parents are the first and most important teachers in our lives. They are the ones who guide us, nurture us and support us through thick and thin. My parents have played a crucial role in shaping me into the person I am today.

Early Childhood

I still remember my early childhood days when my parents used to take care of all my needs without any complaints. They were always there to hold my hand and teach me the basic things in life such as walking, talking and eating. My parents were patient and loving, which helped me develop a strong bond with them.

My parents have always been involved in my education right from the start. They constantly motivated me to do well in school and encouraged me to pursue my interests. They were always there to help me with my homework, attend parent-teacher meetings and guide me in making important decisions about my academic future.

Apart from providing me with a solid education, my parents have also been my biggest support system. Whenever I faced any challenges or setbacks in life, they were the ones who stood by me and helped me get through it. Their unwavering love and support gave me the confidence to overcome any obstacle that came my way.

In conclusion, I am truly grateful for everything that my parents have done for me. They have been my pillars of strength and continue to be my biggest role models. I owe all my success and achievements to their constant love, guidance and support. I am lucky to have such amazing parents who have always been there for me, and I will always be grateful for their unwavering love and support. Overall, my relationship with my parents is the most precious and cherished bond in my life.

Respect of Parents Essay in English:

As children, we are taught to respect our parents. They are the ones who brought us into this world and have raised us with love and care. Our parents sacrifice their time, energy and resources to provide for us and ensure that we have a good life.

Respect towards our parents should come naturally as they are our first teachers. They instill values in us and guide us to become responsible and respectable individuals. It is important to show gratitude and appreciation towards our parents for all that they do for us.

We must always treat our parents with love, kindness and understanding, just as they have treated us throughout our lives. This will not only bring happiness and harmony in the family but also help us build strong relationships with our parents that will last a lifetime. So, let us never forget to respect and cherish our parents always.

Role of Parents in Bringing Up Child Essay:

The role of parents in bringing up a child is a crucial one. Parents are the first and most important teachers for their children, as they shape their child’s personality, values and beliefs. From the moment a child is born, parents are responsible for providing love, care and guidance to help them grow into responsible adults.

One of the primary responsibilities of parents is to provide a safe and nurturing environment for their child. This includes meeting their basic needs such as food, shelter, and clothing, as well as providing emotional support and stability. Parents also play a significant role in instilling discipline and teaching good manners to their child.

Furthermore, parents are also responsible for fostering a positive relationship with their child. This involves spending quality time together, having open and honest communication, and being actively involved in their child’s life. By doing so, parents can help their child develop healthy self-esteem, confidence and a sense of belonging.

In addition to these responsibilities, parents also serve as role models for their children. Children often imitate the behavior and attitudes of their parents, which is why it is crucial for parents to lead by example and demonstrate positive values and behaviors.

In conclusion, the role of parents in bringing up a child cannot be overstated. They provide love, support, guidance, and serve as role models to help their child grow into a responsible and well-rounded individual. It is a challenging but incredibly rewarding role that requires patience, understanding, and unconditional love.

• How do I write an essay about my parents? To write an essay about your parents, focus on their roles in your life, their influence, and the impact they’ve had on your upbringing and personal development. Share personal anecdotes and express your feelings and gratitude.
• What is the importance of parents in our life essay? In an essay about the importance of parents in our life, discuss their role in nurturing, supporting, and guiding us. Emphasize how they contribute to our emotional and social development and provide a sense of security and love.
• What do you expect from your parents essay? In an essay about what you expect from your parents, you can discuss your hopes and needs regarding support, understanding, guidance, and the qualities you value in their parenting.
• How do I write an essay about my mother? When writing an essay about your mother, describe her characteristics, her role in your life, and her influence on your development. Share anecdotes and express your appreciation and love for her.

34 thoughts on “9 Essays on My Parents | Why I Love my Mom & Dad [ 2024 ]”

Very nice essay it’s written in a matured way about our parents and the role played by them in our lives . They are the real heroes in our life . What is written in the first line is true. I love this composition or essay very much.

Really nice essay

Yes this is a nice essay for me. About our parents and what they did for us. So all of u respect your parents including me…

It is very nice

Good…. Let our kids know the value of their parents…… . 😊😊😊

I really appreciate on your essay a very good n true lines on our parents how u have been type d essay sem even my parents r like

Parents are the candles ther lights us the way of success they are really fabulous for me

nobody on earth can ever love you more than your parent but i did not have parents

You should know that if you do not have a family that loves and protects you, know that God loves you and protects you always 🙂

After reading this esaay respect for my parents increases in my heart i always love them

Amazing essay……. Thanx for this contribution.. 😀😀😀😄😄😀😀😀

I got emotional when I was reading. Thank you.

It is really a good essay on

It’s so much nice superpb👍👍👍!!

It’s very good.

Thanks For Your Words!

Nice think ever thank you for creating

My Pleasure!

FAM nice essay.

we never know the love of parent till we become a parent ourselves

True that! Thanks for kind words

Without parents we are really nothing

Yes it true parents are our hero

The world will give way to those who have goals and visions

Sooo emotional essay

Very nice essay…..👌👌👌👌

very very nice

Wow, It realized me that how parents are importan

We should pray to God that he should give the strength to keep our parents in peace. We should always respect our parents because without parents live is useless.

Very good essay ✌✌✌✌✌

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College Essay: Driven by my mother’s sacrifices

It was a humid summer day of my fourth year in America when I decided to apply for Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) to help me achieve my goal of a college education.

Until I turned 12, I had no hopes, dreams or future. I never imagined myself going to college.

I inhaled a deep breath and checked the “No high school diploma” box for my parents’ education. My mother, a 57-year-old immigrant widow, works every day just to be able to afford a one-bed apartment for a household of four.

On May 9, 2000, I was born in Burma, now known as Myanmar, under the name Naw Saw K Pay Poe. When I turned 2, my dad passed away and life became difficult. I could sense that people looked down on my family because our household leader was no longer a man. Throughout this experience, I felt my mom’s pain, but she never gave up on me. She shows me and everyone around her that she can live without a man.

When I was 5, my family moved to a Thailand refugee camp because my mother wanted greater opportunities for her family. My mom taught me to take advantage of every opportunity that I have. I learned numerous lessons from growing up with my mother. She inspires me through her actions and work ethic.

My school in Thailand was built out of bamboo and there were blackboards instead of smartboards. The school didn’t provide buses, lunch or breakfast. Students were hit with bamboo sticks for not completing assignments as small as memorizing a paragraph.

There were few resources, but it was better than my mother’s education experience. My mom couldn’t afford to pay for school because she had to work each day to survive. In addition, there was limited education due to the long civil war between the Karen and Burmese soldiers.

In the summer of 2012, my family moved to the United States from the Thailand refugee camp, and I became Pay Poe. After moving to the U.S., life became difficult again. It was a new country with new people.

When I arrived at my new school, I had no clue why I was there.

Slowly, I looked up at my tall, smiling teacher and followed her into a room full of my new classmates. I could feel all eyes on me. I was the shortest, smallest and loneliest of all. It felt like I had dropped down into a world where I didn’t belong.

Over time, I learned a lot more about the culture. I knew how to ask for help and began to understand the reasons why my mother left everything and moved to America. I used to go to her and say, “I don’t like school because I don’t have any friends.” She would reassure me and say, “Remember, you don’t need friends to go to school, and we moved here because we want you to be educated.”

My mom’s support and hard work motivate me to value my opportunities. I attend school every day. I’m never late for my classes. I stay organized so there aren’t missing or late assignments. I’m grateful and ready to be the first in my family to attend a university.

Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” I am driven by the sacrifices my mom made so that I can achieve my dreams. People can take away our land, our rights, but they can never take away our knowledge.

I work hard because one day I want to check the “College degree” box for my own education and prove that I can overcome challenges and thrive.

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• My Parents Essay

500 Words Essay On My Parents

We entered this world because of our parents. It is our parents who have given us life and we must learn to be pleased with it. I am grateful to my parents for everything they do for me. Through my parents essay, I wish to convey how valuable they are to me and how much I respect and admire them.

My Strength My Parents Essay

My parents are my strength who support me at every stage of life. I cannot imagine my life without them. My parents are like a guiding light who take me to the right path whenever I get lost.

My mother is a homemaker and she is the strongest woman I know. She helps me with my work and feeds me delicious foods . She was a teacher but left the job to take care of her children.

My mother makes many sacrifices for us that we are not even aware of. She always takes care of us and puts us before herself. She never wakes up late. Moreover, she is like a glue that binds us together as a family.

Parents are the strength and support system of their children. They carry with them so many responsibilities yet they never show it. We must be thankful to have parents in our lives as not everyone is lucky to have them.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

While my mother is always working at home, my father is the one who works outside. He is a kind human who always helps out my mother whenever he can. He is a loving man who helps out the needy too.

My father is a social person who interacts with our neighbours too. Moreover, he is an expert at maintaining his relationship with our relatives. My father works as a businessman and does a lot of hard work.

Even though he is a busy man, he always finds time for us. We spend our off days going to picnics or dinners. I admire my father for doing so much for us without any complaints.

He is a popular man in society as he is always there to help others. Whoever asks for his help, my father always helps them out. Therefore, he is a well-known man and a loving father whom I look up to.

Conclusion of My Parents Essay

I love both my parents with all my heart. They are kind people who have taught their children to be the same. Moreover, even when they have arguments, they always make up without letting it affect us. I aspire to become like my parents and achieve success in life with their blessings.

FAQ of My Parents Essay

Question 1: Why parents are important in our life?

Answer 1: Parents are the most precious gifts anyone can get. However, as not everyone has them, we must consider ourselves lucky if we do. They are the strength and support system of children and help them out always. Moreover, the parents train the children to overcome challenges and make the best decision for us.

Question 2: What do parents mean to us?

Answer 2: Parents mean different things to different people. To most of us, they are our source of happiness and protection. They are the ones who are the closest to us and understand our needs without having to say them out loud. Similarly, they love us unconditionally for who we are without any ifs and buts.

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The New York Times

The learning network | what are your family stories of sacrifice.

What Are Your Family Stories of Sacrifice?

Questions about issues in the news for students 13 and older.

• See all Student Opinion »

Family histories often include events in which people make a sacrifice, hoping that future generations will benefit. Perhaps relatives fled political oppression in their home country or moved to a place where their children and grandchildren were likely to have more opportunities. Perhaps they worked long hours to provide for the family. What stories are there in your family history of personal sacrifice?

In the article “Tight-Knit Family Shares Lin’s Achievement,” Sam Borden and Keith Bradsher tell the story of basketball sensation Jeremy Lin’s parents. People who know the family contend that “in order to fully comprehend Lin’s rise from relative anonymity, his parents’ story must be understood.” The article continues:

Indeed, long before there were Madison Square Garden and endorsement opportunities and an unending spotlight on a quiet family from the Bay Area, there were two graduate students in a cramped apartment in Indiana, a rattling Ford Taurus and bills so overwhelming they once gripped the family’s finances. At its roots, though, the parents’ journey is simple: Some 40 years ago, Lin Gie-Ming, a boy from Beidou, and Wu Xinxin, a girl from Kaohsiung, thought of coming to the United States. They dreamed of pursuing an education. They dreamed of perhaps, someday, raising a family. Gie-Ming’s immigration to the United States arose from a fortunate connection. Ping Tcheng, a professor at Old Dominion University, graduated from National Taiwan University in 1961, he said, and about 15 years later sent a letter back to his alma mater seeking an engineering student who might be interested in working as his research assistant. In 1977, Gie-Ming arrived on campus in Norfolk, Va. Gie-Ming, now 59, came from an educated family. His father, Lin Xinken, was part of the seventh generation of a family that crossed the Taiwan Strait in 1707 from Fujian province in mainland China, according to a short family history provided by a relative. Lin Xinken survived the massacre of thousands of Taiwanese by Chiang Kai-shek’s mainland Chinese troops in the spring of 1947. The purge was aimed at eliminating possible Communist sympathizers and advocates of Taiwanese independence, and fed decades of antipathy between longtime Taiwanese and new arrivals from the mainland. … In addition to earning his master’s degree in engineering, Gie-Ming also met his future wife at Old Dominion. Wu Xinxin — who changed her name to Shirley Wu after arriving in Virginia — was studying computer science, and after finishing their studies at O.D.U., the couple went together to Lafayette, Ind., to pursue additional degrees at Purdue. There, they lived in a tiny student apartment that rented for “no more than $120 a month,” according to Steve Tolopka, who also studied computer science at Purdue. “I’m not sure you would call these places furnished,” Tolopka said. “Maybe ‘barely furnished’? They had a bed, I think.” … For the first four years of Jeremy’s life, his parents worked continually — Gie-Ming as an electronics engineer and Shirley as an engineer for airports, specializing in ticket dispensers — and Gie-Ming’s mother, Lin Chu A Muen, spent 11 months a year in the United States to help raise the children. “Jeremy’s mother would go on business trips for a whole week, and I would cook Taiwanese dishes for him the whole time,” Jeremy’s grandmother recalled during a recent interview in Taipei.

Students: Tell us how the actions and decision of your parents, grandparents or other relatives spoke, or speak, to their hopes for their children. What did they do? How have you benefited by their sacrifices, hard work or planning? What have you learned from their examples?

Students 13 and older are invited to comment below. Please use only your first name. For privacy policy reasons, we will not publish student comments that include a last name.

Comments are no longer being accepted.

my great granpa bought 32 acers of land.he also left alot of money for us.he gave up alot of time and money for us.

my family was never about the education yes we care about it but we don’t study or sit down and read books for hours. I think that has reflected me now that i am in high school i am not very good at most of the subjects here and I no that somewhere in me I no that i have to ability to do the things they want. I feel since my mother never really took education seriously so now that effects me in high school.

My grandpa fought in the Vietnam war when he was younger. He has never spoke about it so it must have been pretty bad. He has sacrificed his life for his country and I respect him greatly for that.

In order to sacrifice anything for someone, you must really feel passionate and believe in whomever your making the sacrifice for. My mother made a huge sacrifice for me. I got pregnant and had a child my senior year of high school. my mother had a child two weeks before me. she stays home a few days out the week and keeps after our children by hersself so that i can go to school and graduate. She believes in my future. She sacrificed her time, and peace of mind in order for my future to be brighter.

My parents sacrificed much, by leaving South Korea with me and my sister, when I was only 6th months old. They me that we immigrated to the US for a better immigration. So far, because of their decision, I’ve learned a lot of things.

To begin with, my parents has sacrificed alot for me. They even have to take away their personal life just to take care of me as i was a child. It was difficult for them so they got seperated. But i was child and didn’t understand what was happening. Now they still keep in touch and i appreciate everything they have done for me.

My mother has sacrificed most her life just to take care of me, see my whole family has done a huge amount of sacrifices for me mainly i was born when my parents were 17 and i was a very sudden thing to happen to my family. My parents couldn’ handle each other while taking care of me so they seperated. They dont talk much anymore and i dont talk to my dad much but they both still try to be the best parents they can be.

Neither of parents have made huge sacrifices for my family. However, as a teen, my father left his family behind and came to Connecticut for a better job and a better life. He works until late at night to support the family. I have benefited by this because I have a good home life. My mom sacrificed her social life to take care of the family because every day she works, and when she gets home, she takes care of the house, along with my father and I.

I dont know. Stuff. I Get presents. buy kid presents

My family would do anything for their children, and I know this for a fact because my mom would quit a job and start a new business just to spend more time with her family so she sacrificed the amount of money coming in. I have benefited from this because she spends more time with her family and creates a more loving environment. I have learned that people make sacrifices and when I have kids to do the same for them as my family has done for me.

I think that the fact that my grandpa was in the Vietnam War, makes me realizes how lucky it is for me to know him. A lot of people diseased in that war, and he was not one of them. I think that the fact that my great grandfather was a deep sea diver with the whole metal helmet and everything, and the fact that my dad is a navy diver, helps me want to dive even more than I have already. Their lives do inspire me, and it sometimes helps me keep on rolling with whatever is happening in life at the moment. I have learned that nothing is impossible, and if someone works hard enough, anyone can achieve anything.

Well right now actually my parents are making a huge sacrifice with their money and their time. They are letting my brother and I try out for a premier team called Southeast Premier. It costs over $3000 plus tournaments and the drive. They want us to become the best soccer players that we can be. It’s also an opportunity for my brother because he wants to be a soccer player when he grows up. What I’ve learned from their examples is that if they can make sacrifices then I could probably make them too.

My parents sacrifice both their time and their money for their children. They use their money towards food, utilities, clothes etc. They also use it toward schooling. My parents used to send me to Fishers Island School which required tuition to enter. They had also helped put my brothers through college. My parents sacrifice their time to help with homework, taxes (My brothers) and anything we need help with.

In my family we have sacrificed birthdays, outings, and vacations because of the life of a military family. My parents have missed birthday dinners because of Navy balls, actual birthdays because of deployment, and outings because of too much work to be done. My dad is in the Navy and rarely has any time to go places with any of us and misses a lot of family time because of his work. Even though my dad misses a lot of family time he still is a big part of us and still makes time for family.

My family is more of the family rather to give, rather than receive. My mom and dad are extremely hard workers and work and do a lot to provide and make their kids happy. Because my parents work so much, my grandma stays with my siblings and I after school to pick us up, help with homework, and get us to sporting events. She has sacrificed her time to spend time with us kids and help my mom out. My family around me has inspired me to do things to help others if you love them.

My parents have made many sacrifices for my brother and I. To some people they may not seem like ‘sacrifices’, but my parents give up so many things, like time with their friends, so that we can do all the things we want and need to do.

One way my mom tried to give me a better life was going back to school when I was younger. I have benefited from this greatly. She now has her massage therapy degree and can therefore support her children. I have learned from her because now I know that when times are hard, if I work hard enough, I can succeed at what I want to do and make things work.

My mom and dad sacrificed both their jobs to run a gymnastics gym to make my sisters and I happy as well as other kids in the surrounding area. My family has greatly benefited from this decision because all of my sisters and I because we all are now very good at gymnastics and we are all healthy and active. And even now my older sister wants to take over the business when she gets older.

My family’s past isn’t filled with heartbreak, of leaving family members. My family hasn’t had to make sacrifices. Sure my great-great Grandparents came over from Scotland, and Ireland, but no on e alive now knew them. My Mom’s Grandparents lived in Connecticut their whole life, and my Dad’s parents lived in and around New England. I have still learned from my family to try my hardest, and live life to the fullest.

My grandparents worked very hard to support their four children. Without them doing so i would probably be very poor. I have learned to plan out my life so that i wont run into a wall later in life. I have also learned to set money aside to save. When i get a job i will set money aside for retirement so i can live a good life when i am old.

My Parents have always told me how when they were younger they didn’t have as much as we do now. They also talk about how when they had me and my sister, they had hoped for better for us. They sacrifice a lot of their time for me and I am grateful. Between bringing me and my sisters to schools over a half hour away from our house, to working every day of the week, my mom still has time to drive me to my friends and different events. I hope to do the same for my children.

My mom was a single mom for eight years with no degree, and barley having a job. She gave up a lot to raise me like her education and buying semi-nice things. I have learned the value of money and education from her. I am not afraid to say I want a better life than my mother had. I thrive to get good grades, and save money for college so I can get a good job, and give my kids a better life than I had.

My dad has sacrificed his entire college for my sister, my brother and I. My dad went to college at URI and graduated, after college he got a job doing peoples taxes in Hartford. But because my mom worked nights and he worked late he had to quit and now he works with my grandfather. The job he has now, did not require him to have graduated college. My dad risked a lot but in the end, it was a move that did not cost his kids (us) anything.

My mom wants me, and the rest of my siblings, like any parent would, to get a great education and to work hard in life to get into a good college to get a good paying job. As my mom says ” You can’t live in this economy without money nowadays.” She used to be a judo champion for the boys team, and she was amazing. She flew across the world and missed school sometimes for her love of dance and judo. She burned all her trophies and medals and everything, and I still don’t know why. She could have made it in the entertainment business. My mom wants our education first because I have a passion for dance. Always did and always will. I have been dancing since I was 2 years old, and, as my grandmother says “Dance is like a gene in the family. It might miss one, but it will always carry on.” I believe this statement because my sister also loves to dance. My mom and grandmother are always on top of my grades because, they don’t want me to end up missing school and going into a career of entertainment, or the arts. The only way I believe that I have benefited from this was that I do my homework right when I get home, and no matter how tough my life gets for me, I put it aside and I think of school first. School is always important to me, it always comes first, than dance. I wish that sometimes she wouldn’t be so hard on me, meaning, she wants me to never cry and stand strong no matter how hard the situation is. She wants the best for me, I know, but sometimes I wish I could just be a kid again.

My mom has sacrificed so much for me. She was a single mom most of her life with 2 kids. She gave up half her college life to raise me & my sister. My grandparents didn’t give up much for me, but they do so much for me. They never have a problem giving me anything I need. Thanks to them, my mom was able to come to the U.S from Puerto Rico and leave me and my sister behind with my grandparents. I love my family so much, I’d give the world to be with them.

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Narrative Essay: I Love My Parents

Parents are the closest people that we have in our lives, whether we realize it or not. They love us not because we are smart, beautiful, successful or we have a good sense of humour, but just because we are their children. I, too, love mom and dad simply because they are my parents, but I think I would have felt the same even if they weren’t. I love who they are as people, each with their own individual traits – and, together, forming an amazing super-team that’s made me who I am today and taught me what life is all about.

My mother is a cheerful, chatty perfectionist who seems to always find something to get excited about and who can talk for hours about animals and flowers. She is never afraid to speak her mind and she can be very convincing when she wants to. She sometimes get upset a bit too easily, but she is just as quick to forgive and forget. I love mom for all that she is – even when she’s angry – for all that she has done for me, and for all that she’s taught me. My mom has been through a lot throughout the years, but she always kept fighting.She taught me to never lose hope even in the direst of moments, and she showed me how to look for happiness in the small things. She’s been trying to teach me to be more organized as well, but hasn’t succeeded yet. I love her for that too.

My father is quiet, patient and calm, and he has an adorable hit-and-miss sense of humour. I may not always find his jokes that funny, but I love him for trying. Dad almost never gets angry and he is always polite, friendly and nice to everyone. He is not the one to verbalize emotions, but he always shows his feelings through sweet gestures and little surprizes. He is the pacifist in our family and never goes against mom’s wishes, but he runs a large company witha firm hand. I love my father for all these characteristics and for all he’s sacrificed to build a better life for us. He’s worked day and night to ensure we afford good education and have a rich, wonderful childhood, and he has passed up many great opportunities for the benefit of our family. I love dad because he’s taught me that you cannot have it all in life, but with hard work and dedication, you can have what matters most to you.

Mom and dad may be very different people, but they complement each other perfectly. Together, they formed a super-team that was always there – and, thankfully, still is – to provide comfort, nurturing, and support and help me grow as a person. Their complementary personalities bring balance in our family, and each of them steps in whenever they are needed the most. Together, they taught me to believe in myself and have turned me into a fighter. Their care and dedication towards me and each other has served as an example of what healthy relationships should be like, and I love and admire them for that.

I love my parents because they are my parents, my good friends, my heroes, my role models, my safe haven, my pillars of strength.I am who I am today thanks to them, and I know that their support and affection will play an essential role in what I will become in the future.All I can hope is that, when I have children of my own, I will be half as good a parent as they were to me.

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Personal Experience — My Personal Story of the Sacrifices Made by My Parent in Order to Give Me a Good Education

My Personal Story of The Sacrifices Made by My Parent in Order to Give Me a Good Education

• Categories: Personal Experience Sacrifices

About this sample

Words: 1254 |

Published: Mar 14, 2019

Words: 1254 | Pages: 3 | 7 min read

Works Cited

• Chen, D. (2018). Taiwanese American Families: Transnational Families and Identity. In Transnational Families, Migration and the Circulation of Care (pp. 99-117). Palgrave Macmillan.
• Liu, W. M., Lee, R. M., & Negi, N. J. (2019). Asian American fathers: A systematic review of the literature. Psychology of Men & Masculinities, 20(2), 258-272.
• Tsai, J. L., Louie, V. S., Chen, A. J., & Uchida, Y. (2007). Learning what feelings to desire: Socialization of ideal affect through children's storybooks. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33(1), 17-30.
• Lee, M. (2015). Exploring the role of culture in fathering: Perspectives of Asian immigrant fathers. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 24(2), 122-136.
• AirlineGeeks.com. (n.d.). Cathay Pacific. Retrieved from https://airlinegeeks.com/airline/cathay-pacific/
• Cathay Pacific Airways. (n.d.). Our Fleet. Retrieved from https://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_US/flying-with-us/our-fleet.html
• Smith, A. (2022). The Cockpit: The Craftsmanship of Flying. Random House.
• Federal Aviation Administration. (n.d.). Becoming a Pilot. Retrieved from https://www.faa.gov/pilots/become/
• Planes of Fame Air Museum. (n.d.). About. Retrieved from https://planesoffame.org/about/
• Manning, D. (2017). Flying Free: A Memoir. HarperCollins.

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Sacrifice: An Unexpected Answer to Family Challenges

"In this world, it is not what we take up, but what we give up that makes us rich." –Henry Ward Beecher

Michael Ruse and Julie Dodger had been engaged for six months, but the closer they got to the wedding, the more concerned they were about the marriage. Julie was willing to move to a new location, and Michael was willing to attend all of her family gatherings. When they did the math, it should have worked out. But according to Julie, Michael didn’t earn enough, didn’t listen well enough, and didn’t compromise. And according to Michael, Julie was intolerant, disorganized, and high maintenance. They worried that their differences were irreconcilable.

Through discussion, Michael and Julie came to realize that although their problems were very real, their strengths were real as well, and they showed those strengths best when they sacrificed for one another. Julie felt like it was easier to appreciate Michael when she cleaned her apartment for him and when she forgave his imperfections, and Michael knew from experience that his love for Julie grew when he sacrificed his evening sports show to hear about her day. By focusing on sacrificing for each another, the couple gained the courage to move forward in their relationship. They learned that mutual love grows as we serve and sacrifice for each other.

A Contrary Culture

The couple was surprised at first that a simple principle like sacrifice provided a solution to their problems. We can understand their skepticism. American culture doesn’t value sacrifice as much as it values individuality. Self-care and science are the songs of our day, not sacrifice!

But perhaps what we need is the simple reminder of the truth spoken by Jesus: “[H]e that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it” (Matthew 10:39).

The Great Paradox

There is a certain inevitability that as one struggles to foster someone else’s growth, one’s own growth, in one way or another, is also fostered. –Dag Hammarskjold 1

Sacrifice is a willingness to “forego immediate self-interest to promote the well-being of a partner or relationship”. 10 We frequently see this kind of sacrifice in family relationships. Consider these examples:

Parenting Relationships : A new mother sacrifices much-needed sleep in order to feed her hungry infant.

In the case of childrearing, sacrifice is not just a nicety—it is a necessity. The Family: A Proclamation to the World describes some important parental sacrifices:

Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.

Marriage Relationships: A husband sacrifices his weekend plans with friends to take his wife on a date.

Marriage requires a lot of sacrifice. Fortunately, sacrifice is easier for people who are united. “For those individuals who have a strong sense of couple identity..., and are therefore more interested in the well-being of the couple unit than their own individual gains, it is theorized that acts of sacrifice will be easier because they do not feel like they are as much of a sacrifice”. 11 When a couple feels committed and unified, sacrifice is a blessing rather than a burden.

Family Relationships: A child sacrifices his lunch money for his younger sister when she forgets hers.

Children benefit from the sacrificial examples of their parents. As recipients of their parents’ sacrifices, they also learn how to sacrifice. In this way, sacrifice makes it more likely for family members to reciprocate good behaviors. The result is a more generous, hospitable home atmosphere.

A Responsibility and a Reward

Sacrifice is so common in family life that we often fail to notice it. Sacrifice can be active (doing something against your own inclination in order to please someone you love) or passive (not doing something that you’d like to do in order to please someone you love). It may seem costly at times, but sacrifice is a gift with many rewards.

Research shows that greater sacrifice leads to happier, longer-lasting relationships. Scholars include it with other “transformative processes” like forgiveness, commitment, and sanctification. Though the reasons why sacrifice is so important to families have not all been identified, some researchers have noted that “sacrifice has surplus value, yielding positive consequences for the partner above and beyond any direct impact on experienced outcomes”. 10 Rather than leaving us empty, sacrifice actually makes us full.

Motive Matters

Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity . . . ( 2 Corinthians 9:7 ).

Not all sacrifice is created equally. People can sacrifice with two types of motives:

Approach motives seek to obtain positive outcomes. For example, a man could buy flowers for his wife because he loves her and wants her to be happy.

Avoidance motives seek to avoid negative outcomes. For example, the same man could buy flowers for his wife for Valentine’s Day because he knows that she would be mad if he didn’t.

Research shows that approach motives are better than avoidance motives. It’s easy to see why. The man who buys flowers for his wife because he loves her will be happy about the gift. He’ll probably feel like a better husband, and he will be confident that his wife will return the affection that he feels for her. In contrast, the man who buys flowers for his wife to avoid her wrath probably feels a little stressed, having to tiptoe around her. He might be mad about the money that it costs, and he will expect her to be ungrateful or undeserving of the gift. Rather than bringing the couple together, sacrificing with avoidance motives has the potential to drive them further apart. Giving sacrifice willingly (with approach motives) is far more beneficial than giving grudgingly.

Learning to Sacrifice

Learning to sacrifice is more than a to-do list. Since motivation matters, sacrifice must be delivered with an attitude of love and appreciation. It is less of an action than it is a process of becoming. So although the following suggestions may help, remember that sacrificing requires a change of heart, and not just a change of behavior:

Sacrificial Speech: Sometimes sacrifice means biting your tongue. When your partner or child makes a negative remark, don’t respond unkindly. Instead, select a calm and caring reply. This is called accommodation or editing.

Sacrificial Stance: Researchers recommend that rather than focusing on how our family members can change, we should shift our attention to something that we have more control over, such as how we can bless them. In the spirit of President John F Kennedy, we ask not “what can this person do for me?” but “what can I do for this person?”

Sacrificial Sight: Change your heart by changing your perspective. Researchers suggest that we should focus on the things that we want to create in our relationships rather than things that we want to avoid. See family members’ needs and interests as important as your own, and notice their strengths rather than their weaknesses.

Sacrificial Savoir-Faire: Savoir-faire is the ability to act with grace and tact. Sometimes this requires sacrifice. Choose your battles wisely and be willing to set aside personal interests when they conflict with couple or family well-being.

Written by Jenny Stewart, Research Assistant, edited by Justin Dyer and Stephen F. Duncan, professors in the School of Family Life, Brigham Young University.

• Bahr, H. S. (2001). Families and self-sacrifice: Alternative models and meanings for family theory. Social Forces, 79(4), 1231-1258.
• Burr, W. R., Marks, L. D., Day, R. D. (2012). Sacred matters: Religion and spirituality in families. New York, NY: Routledge.
• Cherlin, A. J. (2004). The deinstitutionalization of American marriage. Journal of Marriage and Family , 66(4), 848-861.
• Fincham, F. D., Stanley, S. M., Beach, S. R H. (2007). Transformative processes in marriage: An analysis of emerging trends. Journal of Marriage and Family , 69, 275-292.
• Fowers, B. J. (2000). Beyond the myth of marital happiness: How embracing the virtues of loyalty, generosity, justice, and courage can strengthen your relationship . San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
• Hinckley, G. B. (1971, June). Except the Lord build the house . Ensign.
• Impett, E. A., Gable, S. L., & Peplau, L. (2005). Giving up and giving in: The costs and benefits of daily sacrifice in intimate relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89(3), 327-344.
• Pargament, K., Zinnbauer, B., Scott, A., Butter, E., Zerowin, J., & Stanik, P. (1998). Red flags and religious coping: Identifying some religious warning signs among people in crisis. Journal of Clinical Psychology , 54(1), 77-89.
• Stanley, S. M., Whitton, S. W., Sadberry, S. L., Clements, M. L., Markman, H. J. (2006). Sacrifice as a predictor of marital outcomes. Family Process , 45, 289-303.
• Van Lange, P. M., Rusbult, C. E., Drigotas, S. M., Arriaga, X. B., Witcher, B. S., & Cox, C. L. (1997). Willingness to sacrifice in close relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 72(6), 1373-1395.
• Whitton, S., Stanley, S., & Markman, H. (2002). Sacrifice in romantic relationships: An exploration of relevant research and theory. In A. L. Vangelisti, H. T. Reis, & M. A. Fitzpatrick (Eds.), Stability and change in relationships (pp. 156-182). Cambridge, UK: University Press.

The popular and professional literature seems to miss the real sources of strength in marriage: the shared goals, the necessary struggles and sacrifices, the calm joy of teamwork, and the comfort in two people carrying out mundane tasks together. All of these elements forge the profound bonds that characterize strong marriage. –Blaine Fowers, Beyond the Myth of Marital HappinessMichael and Julie’s experience illustrates that sacrifice can be a positive influence in family life. The couple was surprised at first that a simple principle like sacrifice provided a solution to their problems. We can understand their skepticism. American culture doesn’t value sacrifice as much as it values individuality. Society places such a large emphasis on self-fulfillment and independence that scholars call modern marriage the “individualized” marriage. 3 Although individuality isn’t necessarily bad, too much focus on self can lead us to forget about sacrificing for others, which leads to families being less effective. In addition, sacrifice is usually seen as a religious rather than an academic principle. Self-care and science are the songs of our day, not sacrifice! But things are changing, and sacrifice is gaining importance in the academic world. It came onto the scene almost by accident. In 1998, a team of researchers discovered that sacrifice has positive outcomes. People who sacrifice are happier and have a better outlook on life. 8 Although it may seem strange that giving oneself away makes a person happier, both research and religion teach us that this is true. In Christian tradition, we are most familiar with the words of Jesus: “[H]e that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it” (Matthew 10:39).

The Sacrifice Paradox

There is a certain inevitability that as one struggles to foster someone else’s growth, one’s own growth, in one way or another, is also fostered. –Dag Hammarskjold 1 Sacrifice is a “willingness to forego immediate self-interest to promote the well-being of a partner or relationship”. 10 We often see this kind of behavior family relationships. For example, a new mother sacrifices sleep to feed her baby. A husband sacrifices his weekend plans with friends to take his wife on a date. Or a child sacrifices his lunch money for his younger sister when she forgets hers. Sacrifice is so common in family life that we sometimes fail to notice it.

Sacrifice can be active (doing something for someone you love) or passive (not doing something in order to please someone you love). Scholars call sacrifice a “transformation of motivation” because it changes how we relate to others. We replace self-interested desires with concern for the people we are with. 7 Rather than leaving us empty, sacrifice actually makes us full.

Research shows that greater sacrifice leads to happier, longer-lasting relationships. 10,9 Scholars include it with other “transformative processes” like forgiveness, commitment, and sanctification. 4 Though the reasons why sacrifice is so important to families have not all been identified, some researchers have noted that “sacrifice has surplus value, yielding positive consequences for the partner above and beyond any direct impact on experienced outcomes”. 10 However it works, it is obvious that it does work!

Family relationships provide countless opportunities to sacrifice. Parenting, in particular, requires more sacrifice than most relationships. In the case of childrearing, sacrifice is not just a nicety—it is a necessity. The Family: A Proclamation to the World describes some important parental sacrifices:Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.Husbands and wives have important responsibilities to each other and to their children. Fortunately, sacrifice is easier when spouses are unified. “For those individuals who have a strong sense of couple identity . . . and are therefore more interested in the well-being of the couple unit than their own individual gains, it is theorized that acts of sacrifice will be easier because they do not feel like they are as much of a sacrifice”. 11 Mature individuals realize that caring for one’s spouse is actually to one’s own benefit because doing so fulfills a deep human need to belong and to nurture. Sacrifice thus becomes a blessing rather than a burden.Children benefit from the sacrificial examples of their parents. As recipients of their parents’ sacrifices, they learn how to sacrifice in return. In this way, sacrifice makes it more likely for family members to reciprocate good behaviors. The result is a more generous, hospitable home atmosphere. 11

To care about someone . . . means devoting them to the person and taking joy in doing so; in the end, one feels richer for one’s efforts, not poorer. –Tzvetan Todorov. 1 Not all sacrifice is created equally. Researchers often categorize sacrificial behaviors as having one of two motives: 7

Approach motives seek to obtain positive outcomes. We call them “approach motives” or “appetitive motives” because the purpose of sacrifice is to gain a reward. For example, a man could buy flowers for his wife because he loves her and wants her to be happy. He is using approach motives because he is seeking the reward of his wife’s happiness and well-being.

Avoidance motives seek to avoid negative outcomes. Avoidance motives (or “aversive motives”) are so-named because the goal is to avoid some sort of punishment. For example, the same man could buy flowers for his wife for Valentine’s Day because he knows that she will be mad if he doesn’t. He exemplifies avoidance motives because he is seeking to avoid her anger.

Research shows that approach motives are better than avoidance motives. 7 It’s easy to see why. The man who buys flowers for his wife because he loves her will be happy about the gift. He’ll probably feel like a better husband, and he will be confident that his wife will return the affection that he feels for her. In contrast, the man who buys flowers for his wife to avoid her wrath probably feels a little stressed, having to tiptoe around her. He might be mad about the money that it costs, and he will expect her to be ungrateful or undeserving of the gift. Rather than bringing the couple together, sacrificing with avoidance motives has the potential to drive them further apart.

Emily Impett and her colleagues did a study to show the importance of sacrificing for the right reasons. They asked 161 college students to keep a daily journal. For two weeks, students wrote about their romantic relationships and their sacrificial behaviors, including whether or not they were sacrificing for avoidance or approach reasons. The results were impressive:

“On days when participants sacrificed for avoidance motives, they experienced more negative emotions, lower satisfaction with life, less positive relationship well-being, and more relationship conflict…Further, the more often participants sacrificed for avoidance motives over the course of the 2-week study, the less satisfied they were and the more likely they were to have broken up 1 month later…” . 7

Impett’s findings echo a common theme in the Bible: “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity” ( 2 Corinthians 9:7 ). Given grudgingly, sacrifice doesn’t benefit the giver or the receiver nearly as much as when it is given willingly. 10 Approach motives and avoidance motives boil down to the principle of sincerity. Approach motives tend to be sincere, while avoidance motives tend to be insincere. Sincere, heartfelt sacrifice benefits both the giver and the receiver. Author Philip Hallie helped explain why sincerity is prerequisite to sacrifice:

[There is a fundamental distinction] between giving things and giving oneself. When you give somebody a thing without giving yourself, you degrade both parties. But when you give yourself, nobody is degraded . . . both parties are elevated by a shared joy. When you give yourself, the things you are giving become . . . féconde (fertile, fruitful). What you give creates new, vigorous life”. 1

Rather than feeling degraded or used when they sacrifice, people who sacrifice with approach motives (sincerely trying to bless someone else) actually feel like beneficiaries. They profit from the possibility of reciprocation, from feeling needed and useful, and from growing to know what is needed and how to meet those needs. 1

To Make Sacred

Sacrifice has found acceptance in academics, but it is also an important religious principle. The roots of the word sacrifice literally mean “to make sacred”. 2 A team of Brigham Young University scholars explored the link between sacrifice and sacredness. They found that “perceiving parts of family life to be sacred gives them a unique, unusually powerful, and salient influence in families… [Thus] the greater the sacredness of sacrificing, the more unique, powerful, and salient the effects of the sacrificing are on other family processes and valued family outcomes”. 2

So, for people who believe that sacrifice is a sacred principle (of special, even transcendent, significance), sacrifice in family life may be more meaningful. For example, the man who believes that fatherhood is a divine duty will probably be more willing to sacrifice work hours for time with his children than the man who thinks little of his fathering efforts. When sacrifices made in the home are considered sacred, we expect individuals and families to sacrifice more often and with purer motives, leading to better family outcomes. We thus recommend that couples and families view sacrifice from a sacred lens, and see family life as directly benefited by religious beliefs.

• Sacrificial Speech: Sometimes sacrifice means biting your tongue. When your partner or child makes a negative remark, don’t respond unkindly. Instead, select a calm and caring reply. This is called accommodation or editing. 1
• Sacrificial Stance: Researchers recommend that rather than focusing on how our family members can change, we should shift our attention to something that we have more control over, such as how we can bless them. 9 In the spirit of President John F Kennedy, we ask not “what can this person do for me?” but “what can I do for this person?”
• Sacrificial Sight: Change your heart by changing your perspective. Researchers suggest that we should focus on the things that we want to create in our relationships rather than things that we want to avoid. 7 See family members’ needs and interests as important as your own 1 , and notice their strengths rather than their weaknesses.
• Sacrificial Savoir-Faire: Savoir-faire is the ability to act with grace and tact. Sometimes this requires sacrifice. Choose your battles wisely and be willing to set aside personal interests when they conflict with couple or family well-being. 10

Word of Warning

Sacrifice is wonderful for families, but it is possible to have too much of a good thing. Research says that sacrifice is most helpful when it is voluntary, when it is given in moderation, when it is reciprocated (given in return), and when it is accompanied by commitment. 9 Sacrifice could easily become harmful if given in the wrong ways. Consider the following circumstances and note how sacrifice could be unhealthy:

Allie and Mark have been married for three months. They love each other, but Mark feels like Allie asks too much of him. She gives him a “honey-do” list every Saturday, and she is constantly nagging him to do things her way. He is happy to do whatever it takes to make theirs a happy marriage, but sometimes he wishes that he could do things for her without being pushed into it.

• Mark’s sacrifices would better if he didn’t feel pushed to sacrifice. Remember, the most beneficial sacrifice is given willingly, with approach motivations rather than with avoidance motivations. Allie could help the situation by being less demanding, more grateful, and by doing a good turn for Mark on a more frequent occasion.

Although Melissa is smitten with her boyfriend, her family is not so fond of him. They affectionately call him “Dan the Dud.” Mel has been dating him for nearly 18 months now, and she does everything she can to convince Dan to marry her. She regularly sacrifices social events and school demands to spend time with him, but he doesn’t seem to reciprocate. In reality, she knows that he really is a dud. She is convinced that things would be better if they were married.

• Melissa is right in one respect—sacrifice and commitment do go hand-in-hand, though it is foolish to believe that Dan’s behavior will change after they get married. Research shows that for men especially, long-term commitment is related to greater willingness to sacrifice. 9 Sacrifice is always most advantageous when it is reciprocated. Only then can sacrifice contribute to a relationship climate of mutual support and generosity.

Karen and Tanner have three children. Karen has a giving heart, and she rarely considers her own needs. She spends so much time serving her family that she sometimes finds herself crashing, feeling exhausted and burned out. Tanner tries to convince her to take a break to rejuvenate, but she feels guilty about taking care of her own needs.

• The answer to Karen’s problem is moderation! Moms are especially susceptible to burn-out. The problem isn’t sacrifice, but how much sacrifice. We all have finite capacities, and we can only give from what we have—in time, energy, or materials. Even mothers have limits. When Karen replenishes herself, she will be more effective in sacrificing and serving others.

Church leader Gordon B. Hinckley wisely defined love in sacrificial terms: “True love is not so much a matter of romance as it is a matter of anxious concern for the well-being of one’s companion”. 6 Current research and personal experience support Hinckley’s words. When it comes to family relationships, sacrifice is the vital key to individual happiness and family unity. Kenneth Boulding said it well: “[W]ithout the kind of commitment or identity which emerges from sacrifice, it may well be that no communities, not even the family, would really stay together”. 1

• Bahr, H. S., & Bahr, K. S. (2001). Families and self-sacrifice: Alternative models and meanings for family theory. Social Forces, 79(4), 1231-1258.
• Cherlin, A. J. (2004). The deinstitutionalization of American marriage. Journal of Marriage and Family, 66(4), 848-861.
• Fincham, F. D., Stanley, S. M., Beach, S. R H. (2007). Transformative processes in marriage: An analysis of emerging trends. Journal of Marriage and Family, 69, 275-292.
• Fowers, B. J. (2000). Beyond the myth of marital happiness: How embracing the virtues of loyalty, generosity, justice, and courage can strengthen your relationship. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
• Hinckley, G. B. (1971, June). Except the Lord build the house . Ensign .
• Pargament, K., Zinnbauer, B., Scott, A., Butter, E., Zerowin, J., & Stanik, P. (1998). Red flags and religious coping: Identifying some religious warning signs among people in crisis. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 54(1), 77-89.
• Stanley, S. M., Whitton, S. W., Sadberry, S. L., Clements, M. L., Markman, H. J. (2006). Sacrifice as a predictor of marital outcomes. Family Process, 45, 289-303.

A Godly Endeavor

"He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." –Matthew 10:39

Joseph Smith taught the early saints that a “religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary to salvation” (Lectures on Faith, 6:5). For the pioneers, sacrifice meant wooden handcarts and wintry treks. Today we have no physical journeys to make in offering. What then can we give? The very definition of sacrifice is to “[give] to the Lord whatever He requires of our time, our earthly possessions, and our energies to further His work”. 4 Today there is no godly work more pressing than the interests of home and family.

In face-to-face communion with God, Moses learned that work and glory of God is “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). If we want to engage in God’s work, then our mission, like His, is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. How better to promote immortality and eternal life than in a family, where human life is created and eternal principles are taught? Indeed, the family is the setting that God instituted for individuals to learn, develop, and lay hold on immortality and eternal life.

In the Family Proclamation

Although The Family: A Proclamation to the World doesn’t refer to sacrifice in word, the principle is woven throughout. Consider the following instructions from the Proclamation, and notice how sacrifice is a guiding principle in our relationships with children, spouse, extended family, and with our Father in Heaven.

• Sacrificing to Marry & Bear Children: The Proclamation has much to say about the sanctity of marriage and parenthood. We learn first that couples are to “multiply and replenish the earth,” and that “children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony.”

Couples may think it is costly to set aside their personal pursuits and worldly endeavors in order to build a family, but we know that marriage and family are worth any price. President Benson taught that “[n]o sacrifice is too great to have the blessings of an eternal marriage . . . By this act of faith, we show our love to God and our regard for a posterity yet unborn”. 2 It requires faith to choose to marry and bear children even when school schedules, careers, and finances get in the way. Fortunately, our Heavenly Father provides divine assistance. When we sacrifice for His purposes, He endows us with power from on high and blesses us with commandments to keep us safe and happy.

• Sacrificing for Spouse: The Proclamation instructs that “Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children” and to “help one another as equal partners.” They are also to “[employ] the sacred powers of procreation … between a man and a woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife” and to “honor marital vows with complete fidelity.”

Loving and caring for one’s spouse as an equal partner sometimes means foregoing personal interests. Maintaining chastity and fidelity sacrifices natural man carnal urges for the eternal joys of a covenant bond. These sacrifices ultimately provide couples with greater intimacy, affection, and unity.

• Sacrificing to Raise Children: The Proclamation describes specific sacrifices that are required of mothers and fathers: “Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live . . . By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children.”

Parenting is not for the faint-hearted! Raising children is the very heart of sacrifice, demanding a total consecration of one’s time, talents, and interests. All other demands outside the home take second-place to the sacred tasks of providing, presiding, protecting, teaching, and nurturing children.

• Sacrificing for Family Members: The Proclamation says only a little about extended family, but it teaches an important responsibility. “Extended families should lend support when needed,” it says.

“Am I my brother’s keeper?” asked Cain (Genesis 4:9). We know from the teachings of Jesus Christ that we are our brother’s keepers. We covenant to “bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light” (Mosiah 18:9). This obligation is most important within our immediate and extended family units.

• Sacrificing for Our Heavenly Father: The Proclamation helps us see that family life is happier when we do things God’s way. We learn that “Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.”

Implicit in the Family Proclamation is the need to sacrifice to God. We choose to do family life in His way, sacrificing some of our own ideas and trusting that the instruction that He provides is the best ways to raise our families.

Blessings and Burdens

Sometimes the demands of family life don’t seem worth the effort. Mothers sacrifice sleep, sanity, and self-interests to nurture their children. Fathers put in forty-hour workweeks to provide for their families. It isn’t always easy to obey laws of tithing, church attendance, chastity, missionary service, or the Word of Wisdom. Yet we believe that it is to our benefit to suspend our personal desires to act in the interest of Heavenly Father’s divine purposes.

To those who tire of giving, remember that the sacrifices are not without reward. Blessings often come as burdens in disguise. President Ezra Taft Benson taught that “[Our] blessings will exceed any sacrifice [we] have made. We can never get the Lord in debt to us.” 2 So central is the role of sacrifice to our happiness that President Harold B. Lee said, “I [am] persuaded of one great truth: Whenever the Lord has a great blessing for one of his children, he puts that son or daughter in the way to make a great sacrifice”. 2 Let us sacrifice willingly, and so reap the rewards of earthly peace and eternal salvation.

Sacrifice yields rewards that far outweigh the costs. It may be in this way that God “reaps where he sow[s] not” (Matthew 25:26). Just as one small seed produces many pieces of fruit, so sacrifice multiplies in effect. It is infectious, and promotes a pattern of generosity among family members. The climate that prevails in a home where individuals willingly sacrifice for each other is one of trust, love, and mutual affection.

Note that not all sacrifice is created equally, however. When we give begrudgingly of our time or resources, we may cause more harm than good. Indeed, scriptures teach us that gifts given without real intent “profiteth [us] nothing” (Moroni 7:6-8). When we give willingly, sacrifice becomes a reward in its own right. It is a blessing rather than a burden.

United and Selfless

Unity is the champion of sacrifice, and selfishness is its destroyer. President Benson recommended that we replace selfishness with sacrifice:

“One of Satan’s greatest tools is pride: to cause a man or woman to center so much attention on self that he or she becomes insensitive to their Creator or fellow beings. It’s a cause for discontent, divorce, teenage rebellion, family indebtedness, and most other problems we face. If you would find yourself, learn to deny yourself for the blessing of others. Forget yourself and find someone who needs your service, and you will discover the secret to the happy, fulfilled life”. 2

Sacrifice is less of an action than it is a process of becoming. A change of heart is required. As we cultivate a giving heart, sacrifice can become the natural way to live virtuously.

"The principle of sacrifice should be taught in every Latter-day Saint home and should be practiced in many simple yet important ways." 1

–Elder M. Russell Ballard

Sacrifice is a lofty principle, but it is best expressed in ordinary settings. Consider applying sacrifice in some of the following ways:

• Sacrifice the impulse to anger. Speak kindly to family members when they speak or behave in unbecoming ways.
• Sacrifice time spent in personal pursuits to spend time with a family member.
• Sacrifice your negative perceptions for more flattering views of others; rather than magnifying faults, look for the good in family members.

Elder Robert D. Hales taught this principle when he advised that “The secret of a happy marriage is to protect the Achilles’ heel and not take advantage of the weaknesses of those you know the best, love the most, and ultimately can hurt the most.” 3

• Give gifts to family members; gifts could include material goods, service, attention, or time.
• Sacrifice your personal hurts in exchange for healing. Forgive generously and refuse to take offense when wronged.
• Teach your children to sacrifice. Your example of willingness to sacrifice for Heavenly Father through obedience to the commandments is one of the greatest gifts you can give.

The Wise Gift

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf 6 reminds us to “forget not the difference between a good sacrifice and a foolish sacrifice. Good sacrifices give in exchange for something of far greater worth, while lesser sacrifices give in exchange for something of negligible value. He compares the good sacrifice of a parent giving up sleep to soothe a child after a nightmare with the foolish sacrifice of a mother staying up all night to make the perfect accessory for her daughter’s Sunday dress.

“Every person and situation is different, and a good sacrifice in one instance might be a foolish sacrifice in another. How can we tell the difference for our own situation? We can ask ourselves, ‘Am I committing my time and energies to the things that matter most?’ There are so many good things to do, but we can’t do all of them. Our Heavenly Father is most pleased when we sacrifice something good for something far greater with an eternal perspective.”

The Atoning Sacrifice

"Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for [our] brethren."

–1 John 3:16

The scriptures remind us that “the great and last sacrifice” is not of man, but is an infinite and eternal sacrifice (Alma 34:10). Without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our earthly sacrifices would mean nothing. Because Jesus Christ overcame death and hell, family relationships are eternal, and we know that our small daily sacrifices will benefit our families now and into eternity. Elder M. Russell Ballard reminds us of the central and pivotal role of our Savior’s sacrifice:

“Having power over life and death, He chose to submit himself to pain, ridicule, and suffering, and offered His life as a ransom for our sins. Because of His love, He suffered both body and spirit to a degree beyond our comprehension and took upon Himself our sins if we repent. Through His personal sacrifice, He provided a way for us to have our sins forgiven and, through Him, to find our way back into the presence of our Heavenly Father”. 1

Sacrifice is central to our Eternal Father’s plan for families. Our small daily sacrifices act as reminders of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice. We will develop greater reverence for the Savior’s atonement when we thus act in his similitude. When we sacrifice at home, we remember that “This is the whole meaning of the law, every whit pointing to that great and last sacrifice; and that great and last sacrifice will be the Son of God, yea, infinite and eternal” (Alma 34:14).

Written by Jenny Stewart, Research Assistant, and edited by Stephen F. Duncan, professor in the School of Family Life, Brigham Young University.

• Ballard, M. R. (1992, May). The blessings of sacrifice . Ensign.
• Benson, E. T. (1979, May). This is a day of sacrifice . Ensign.
• Hales, R. D. (2011, September). A little heaven on earth . Ensign, 45-49.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (2009). Gospel principles . Chapter 26: Sacrifice, 149-154.
• The First Presidency and Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (1995, November). The family: A proclamation to the world . Ensign, 102.
• Uchtdorf, D. F. (2011, October). Forget me not . Ensign.

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Being a parent means sacrificing your future for your kid’s future.

Parents strive to make kid’s lives better before they come in this world and continue to do that till their last breath. The sacrifices they make for their children are innumerable, I’ve tried to put some of those  sacrifices here:

• Time After becoming parent a couple’s life is centered around their little bundle of joy. A couple transforms into a mom and dad and everything that was before ‘us’ is now ‘our baby’. Throughout their life, parents dedicate their time directly or indirectly for their kids. Even relaxing after a busy day at work seems difficult as little baby is eagerly waiting to play with the parents the whole day. The ‘Me time’ is out of the schedule forever for a parent.
• Emotions This is one of the biggest sacrifice someone makes as a parent. Emotional Quotient(EQ) is more important than Intelligence Quotient(IQ). An emotionally stable person is happier than someone who’s not. Our parents change their lives for us, but it does hurt their emotional health. There are some people and moments in their lives which provide them emotional security. But due to parental responsibilities they can’t meet that often. All these sacrifices dissipate their emotional health.
• Money Parents spend money to fulfill all the kid’s needs right from childhood. They provide the best education possible and sometimes go beyond their limits to give kids better opportunities. These sacrifices take a great toll on their financial planning. Also the great Indian wedding, is a big enough expense to empty their pockets. If it’s a girl then parents go to the point of taking loans in old age to marry their girl by giving dowry at times. A son is expected to share financial responsibilities of his parents when they age. But if the son doesn’t earn it is worse for parents in their old age.
• Relationships The first relationship that gets affected with the birth of a baby are of the parents themselves. The spouse are now first mom or dad. The priority list changes and suddenly baby tops the list of all relationships. Some friends and family members drift apart from parents emotionally. Life is now defined by relations that are important to parent and not individual. At times, parent may lose a treasured relation of lifetime because of kid’s misbehavior.
• Personal life As we discussed the ‘Me and We time’ is out of the time table for the parents. A kid demands undivided attention till s/he becomes independent. By that time the age and financial independence is over for the parents. Post retirement they do find time for themselves, but the golden days of adulthood are lost in creating a life for kids than themselves. Many parents suffer relationship issues with their partner because they spend their lives either working or caring for kids. This causes a fading emotional connect between spouses.
• Freedom Our parents curb all their freedom of choices for us. It can be freedom to take a job their heart desires, to live in city they like, to pursue their hobbies, to spend money the way they want. But they give up all choices for us. They rather chose a job that pays well, a city that’s suitable for our future, save money for our education and future needs. It is possible that they could’ve succeeded and lived happier if they had enjoyed their freedom of choice.
• Social life The social life of parents takes a backseat after the baby. Once the baby grows up, schooling becomes the epicenter of parents to expand their social life. Once the kid is settled in live professionally and personally, they find time to expand their social circle. As individuals the growth parents would’ve gained personally, socially and professionally would’ve been way better the other way.
• Career Majority of the times a mother sacrifices. Biologically having a major part in child birth, she puts everything on hold, including her professional life. Naturally father has to give his career more importance to fulfill family needs. Many parents take up jobs that allow them to spend more time with kids.
• Food Parents usually give up on their favorite foods to inculcate healthy eating in kids. Going to restaurant that everyone else but the kid likes; giving up major portion of everyone’s favorite food to the kid to relish. Some less well to do parents have to even give up a one-time meal to feed their kids.
• Desires Starting from their wardrobe, to the house decor, to the car, all are decided to suit the kid’s comfort or later are ruled by her choices. Holiday plans are decided by kid’s education. Later parents are dependent on kids post retirement they even have to shift city to be with them. It’s very difficult, leaving the place they spend their lives and adjusting in a new setup in the old age.

Parents have unconditional love for kids. With old age parents become our kids and need love and care. Remember, a parent never retires. Maybe their words of wisdom don’t hold relevance in today’s world, but experience is the best teacher. After all sacrifices if a parent doesn’t even get love and respect, imagine the trauma they’ll suffer. The world is becoming smaller and we need to move places to grow professionally. We don’t need to drag our parents in their old age everywhere. Just genuine love and being there when they need us is more than sufficient for them to feel proud of their upbringing.

There’s one thought that I will mention, it’s very true for me, as a daughter, and now as a mother, “The more I go through parenting, the more I owe an apology to my parents.” 

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10 Sacrifices Our Parents Made for Us (and We Didn’t Even Notice Them)

When we are young, we take our parents’ love for us for granted, and don’t appreciate them as much as they deserve. But, as we grow older, we realize that our parents are the biggest supporters in our lives. They happily gave up a lot of things in order to raise us in the best possible way they could.

To shape you into the amazing person you are today, your parents went through a lot of hardships, so in case you need another reason to love your parents even more, we at  Bright Side would like to give you 10 of them.

1. They made sure you had the best, even when they were at their worst.

I feel so bad they do everything (sobbing

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Giving It Up: Immigrant Parents and Sacrifice

Last week, a great [FATHER/HOOD] post on Ebony went up about sacrifice and parenting :

To me, sacrifice always denotes a profound loss, or something given away through violence. The meaning of the word has changed over time, but I experience it as the foundation of a kind of deficit. I don’t want to think of anything related to my child as a loss. I’ve made choices. Some have been very hard, but they’ve been choices. I’ve never once thought of anything I’ve done for my kid as any type of sacrificial act.

Not a few days later, a friend shared a link to a discussion on mothers' bodies. The discussion was centered around a kickstarter for a photography project intended to celebrate women's bodies after they have experienced birth , stretch marks and all. I won't go into the details of the discussion -- comments predictably ranged from disgusted to empowered -- but one word I did see thrown around a lot was "sacrifice." That bearing children was a profound sacrifice of the body, that mothers make physical and spiritual sacrifices for their families, and that mothers should be honored for making such sacrifices.

I had been thinking about the idea of sacrifice and how this plays into my philosophy of parenthood for the past few months. Sacrifice is one of the major themes in the immigrant narrative; children of immigrants may not know that sacrifice intimately, but we are at least remotely aware that our parents gave up something , sometimes many things, in order to give us "a better life." The stories we hear about sacrifice are usually meant to instill in us a sense of duty.

Having been raised in a Catholic family, sacrifice in motherhood took on a whole new meaning for me. My first child was unplanned, and her father and I were still in the figuring-things-out stage of our lives and in our relationship when I got pregnant. I didn't do things "the right way" and sacrifice was to be a form of punishment for me. I was supposed to sacrifice things -- my youth and my freedom, namely -- and I was supposed to view and honor these things as sacrifices, as a form of repentance.

But the problem with constantly associating parenthood with sacrifice is complex. It puts enormous pressure on us parents to eschew parts of our identity; we're not supposed to be cool or have fun anymore. For mothers, especially, the pressure to do it all in order to have it all is profound. Viewing motherhood as a physical sacrifice suggests that the ways our bodies change after bearing children are bad, or at least not as good as before; we long for our younger, tighter bodies free of stretch marks, rather than understanding our post-birth bodies as having undergone a natural physical transformation. It also puts an undeserved psychological burden on our children -- by stressing the "sacrifice" part, we're indirectly telling them about the things we could have had, and handing them a debt that needs to be repaid.

And in the first few years of my daughter's life, I felt enormous pressure from my family to be a martyr, to eschew a social life and nearly give up my identity in order to prove that I was a decent mother and not an irresponsible failure . I had been told up and down by my elders that my life would be over once I had kids, so I had better make sure I was ready; this was my sex education. I didn't feel I was being a good mom if I wasn't spending every moment not at work with my little one, and I couldn't take even an hour of me-time without feeling profoundly guilty. I had sensed throughout my life that this is what my mother did for me.

But this model of parenting wasn't sustainable for me. After becoming a mom, I allowed myself to forgo a lot of necessary self-care and ended up missing a lot of my daughter's babyhood simply because I was too tired, too frazzled, and too stressed to enjoy myself in the moment.

In the [FATHER/HOOD] post, Shawn Taylor so eloquently stated my own feelings about the parenthood experience, once I decided to flip the script. I have made choices for my kids, but I've never viewed them as any sort of loss. I gave up partying long before my daughter was even a twinkle in my eye, and was laid off from a job in a dying industry before I'd even told anyone I was having a kid. If anything, my kids gave me a direction in life when I had none. Through pregnancy and breastfeeding, my body gained superpowers. Having a child put me on the hook to work on a relationship I wanted to be in but might have walked away from if the circumstances were different. I realize that things don't always work out like this for other people in similar situations. Rather than make sacrifice part of my parenting philosophy, I'm more inclined to focus on how the choices I've made added to my life.

I never wanted to associate my children with sacrifice, but admitting this doesn't mean I am not aware of and appreciative of the sacrifices my parents made for me. I try to honor the choices my mom made for me without feeling guilty for forcing her hand. But I gained everything by having my kids, and I consider myself extremely fortunate and indebted to  them . 

Theresa Celebran Jones

Theresa Celebran Jones was born and raised in Connecticut and has moved cross-country four times. She currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two young daughters. She works full-time as a technical writer and is an MFA dropout. Her only other hobbies are reading, taking pictures, scrapbooking, and listening to hip hop. Clearly she has no social life.

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Collection Working in Paterson: Occupational Heritage in an Urban Setting

Parents' sacrifices; parents' advice.

Other stories show how parents' work experiences influenced their children's aspirations and shaped their attitudes about workers' rights. Many interviewees described the long hours and hard work their parents endured, often under disagreeable working conditions.

Marianna Costa, of Haledon, a retired textile union official who first entered the industry at Arrow Piece Dye Works, in Paterson, recalls the long hours her mother put in at her job at National Dye and Printing, in East Paterson, and her father put in as a construction worker:

My mother left for work at 6:30 and she didn't come back until six at night. It was a long day between transportation and a ten-hour work day. She was away almost twelve hours. [My father] would leave at about seven, and he was out doing construction. . . . And he would get back by five—an hour before she did because of the transportation. He had a bicycle, so he was able to do better time. And she had to walk to a bus and walk the distance back home. 1

Some informants' parents vigorously discouraged their children from following them into Paterson's textile or garment industries. U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, whose father worked as a warper in a Paterson silk mill, recalls the forceful way his father tried to impart this message to him:

My father once took me to a silk mill he was working in. It was in Paterson. I remember the mill. It was a couple of blocks from where we lived . . . I may have been twelve. My father brought me into this mill. . . . So, my father, when he took me one day, I know it was a Saturday, to the mill that he worked in. And he walked me upstairs to where his friends were and he introduced me to his friends, as one is likely to do, a parent and a child. And he said to me, "I want you to notice how dark it is in here." And he said, "I want you to see how dusty it is in here. I want you to see how filthy it is in here. And I want you to hear how noisy it is in here." And he said, "If you don't want to work in a place like this you have to get an education." Frankly, I didn't know what the hell he was talking about, but it stuck with me. It had meaning later in life. But at that time he was decrying his situation, and saying to me, "For crying out loud, don't let this happen to you. Rise above this." It was quite a message. Anyway, I remember that so vividly. 2

Lautenberg followed his father's advice. After serving in the armed forces and then graduating from Columbia University, he founded Automatic Data Processing, a company that eventually became the largest computing-services firm in the world. And, in 1982, he was elected to the United States Senate, where he continues to serve.

"My mother left for work at 6:30 and she didn't come back until six at night."

"[Story of Lautenberg's father taking him to the textile mill, Part 2 of 2]"

1. Interview, Marianna Costa, Haledon, New Jersey, by David A. Taylor, August 20, 1994. ( Return to Text )

2. Interview, Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, Washington, D.C., by David Taylor, March 22, 1995. ( Return to Text )

How can we give back to our parents for their love and sacrifice? Children share their ideas

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Blaming a Parent, Again, for Failed Gun Laws

By Megan K. Stack

Ms. Stack, a contributing Opinion writer, previously wrote about the case of Jennifer Crumbley, a Michigan parent who was criminally charged after her son shot and killed four students at his school.

If you’re cheering on the charges brought against Colin Gray, the father of our nation’s latest school shooting suspect, it’s worth asking yourself how, exactly, he broke the law.

His 14-year-old son, Colt Gray, has been charged with opening fire at school on Wednesday, killing four people. The assault-style rifle he was accused of using was reportedly a Christmas gift from his dad.

But the Grays live in Georgia, where giving your son an AR-15-style rifle is not, in itself, a crime. (The laws appear to be stricter about handguns.) Nor does Georgia have a law requiring Mr. Gray to safely lock away his guns. Georgia is notorious for having some of the weakest gun laws in the country.

Mr. Gray rocked back and forth in shackles and prison stripes on Friday morning as the charges against him were read. His son had just been charged with murder for opening fire at Apalachee High School, killing two students and two teachers. Next came the charges against the white-haired Mr. Gray, including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter for allowing his son access to the gun even though, prosecutors say, Mr. Gray knew the boy was a threat to himself and others.

Now father and son are both sitting in jail.

The United States, desperate to stop mass shootings, has been seized by an increasing zeal to prosecute parents. Jennifer and James Crumbley, convicted of involuntary manslaughter this year in Michigan after their son’s school shooting, hadn’t broken any gun laws, either. Prosecutors introduced lurid testimony about their personal lives and hobbies in trying to convince a jury that the Crumbleys were indifferent to their son’s mental health. When they were found guilty, many Americans were pleased.

These prosecutions satisfy the public desire to blame somebody. If you don’t like guns, shaming and punishing the parents feels like landing a righteous blow against gun culture. If you do like guns, it’s a bit like the predictable invocation of mental health by politicians — diverting attention from the weapons themselves and suggesting, instead, that the problem is a few bad apples among the owners. Most insidiously, though, these prosecutions set a murky legal precedent for questionable parenting while camouflaging the abject failure of the federal and state governments to adequately regulate gun safety and stop mass shootings.

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Essay on Gratitude For Parents

Students are often asked to write an essay on Gratitude For Parents in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Gratitude For Parents

Understanding gratitude.

Gratitude is saying “thank you” for the good things in your life. It is a feeling of being thankful. We should have gratitude for many people in our life. But, our parents deserve it the most. They do so much for us.

Parents Love

Parents love their children more than anything. They work hard to give us a good life. They make sure we are safe, healthy, and happy. They teach us important things. They help us when we are in trouble. For all these things, we should be grateful.

Showing Gratitude

Showing gratitude to our parents is easy. We can say “thank you” often. We can help them with their work. We can listen to their advice. We can respect them. By doing these things, we show our gratitude.

Benefits of Gratitude

Gratitude is not just good for our parents. It is good for us too. It makes us feel happy. It helps us see the good things in our life. It reminds us of how much we are loved. So, let’s be grateful to our parents every day.

250 Words Essay on Gratitude For Parents

Introduction.

Gratitude means to be thankful. It is about recognizing the good things in life and appreciating them. When we talk about gratitude for parents, it means to be thankful for all that our parents do for us. They work hard to provide us with a safe and comfortable life. They guide us, protect us, and love us unconditionally.

Showing Gratitude to Parents

There are many ways to show gratitude to our parents. Small gestures can mean a lot. We can say thank you to them for the little things they do. We can help them with their work. We can listen to them and respect their advice. We can also show our gratitude by doing well in our studies and activities, as this makes them happy and proud.

The Importance of Gratitude

Feeling and expressing gratitude for our parents is very important. It makes them feel loved and appreciated. It also helps us to understand the value of their efforts. Gratitude helps us to build a strong bond with our parents. It also makes us better people, as it teaches us to be thankful and respectful.

Our parents do so much for us. They deserve our love, respect, and gratitude. Let’s always remember to say thank you to them, for everything they do. Let’s show them that we appreciate their love and care. Let’s make them feel special, every day. After all, our parents are our biggest blessing.

500 Words Essay on Gratitude For Parents

Gratitude for parents is a feeling of thankfulness and appreciation towards our parents. They are the ones who bring us into this world and take care of us with immense love and kindness. They guide us, teach us, and shape us into the individuals we become. This essay will explore the importance of expressing gratitude towards our parents.

Role of Parents

Gratitude is a feeling of appreciation for the kindness and benefits we have received. When we express gratitude, we acknowledge the efforts and sacrifices made by others for our benefit. Expressing gratitude towards our parents is important because it acknowledges the love, care, and effort they put into raising us. It shows them that we value and appreciate everything they do for us. It also helps us develop a positive attitude and a sense of contentment in life.

Ways to Express Gratitude

There are many ways to show gratitude towards our parents. We can express our gratitude through words, by telling them how much we appreciate their love and care. We can also show it through actions, by helping them with household chores, spending quality time with them, or doing something special for them. We can also express gratitude by being obedient, respectful, and considerate towards them. By doing so, we not only show our appreciation, but also make them feel loved and valued.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

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