When I hear people talk about how awful their parents are and how they don’t trust them and how many times they’ve been screwed over by them, it totally blows my mind.

Because I’m lucky enough to have two wonderful parents who worked hard and sacrificed so much for my siblings and I. But the main thing we had in the household was LOVE.

I thought that all parents were like this growing up, but the older I got, I realized how fortunate I am.

Here’s what AskReddit users had to say about having loving parents.

1. Loyalty.

“Especially my mom told and still tells me that she loves me nearly every time we see each other.

It’s the knowledge that they will always have my back. They don’t tell me they are happy or mad with my life choices but tell me that I am the one who need to live with them and as long as I am happy, they are too.

They weren’t perfect though but they were able to apologise when they realised they deeply hurt me. They always explained their parenting choices and I never once in my life heard the famous “my house, my rules”.

And the last thing that is very important to me is that they are absolutely loyal to their kids. Other adults or family members like older cousins or so are mocking me? They would always step in and defend me if I weren’t able to. Always took my feelings seriously. I realised in elementary school that this wasn’t normal for most of the adults.”

2. That’s love.

“My dad would always say, “if you fail your exam, I’ll make you croissants.”

I’m super type A and would stress out a LOT about tests in highschool. But I always knew that no matter what I did in life, my dad would do nothing but love me.”

3. It’ll always be okay.

“You just always feel 100% safe and that no matter what happens EVERYTHING will be okay. I

t makes life way better.. you don’t have to seek companionship outside of your family as much because you already got that “loved” feeling from your family.. basically you rarely feel alone when you have loving parents/family.”

4. It’ll never stop.

“My parents will never stop loving me, no matter what I do. I’m so grateful to them for that fact, and for the fact that I can be completely open with them about anything I need.

They’re not the greatest counselors or anything, but simply having someone to share my struggles with is probably the best gift they’ve ever given me, besides life.”

5. Security.

“Best way I can describe it is just a general feeling of security. Just knowing that they’re behind you 100%, and even when they’re mad at you it’s almost always because they’re trying to help you in the long run.

It’s not something you really appreciate until you get older and start to notice kids around you that have to deal with some pretty fucked up shit from their parents. It’s kind of slowly realizing how many bad things you’ve just never had to worry about thanks to your support system.

And, the best part is how your relationship changes as you get older. When they slowly start treating you like a fellow adult, and you get to see them as more of a whole person.”

6. Nobody’s perfect.

“I have loving parents and am an adult.

They are not perfect. I’ve got baggage. We’ve all made mistakes in our relationship.

I was never abused in any way.

As an adult, I have a very good relationship with them. Maybe the big thing is that we can forgive eachother easily for the errors of our past. Now it’s more like having very good friends than patents. And the roles are changing as I give more advice than I recieve these days.”

7. Great people.

“I was born to two loving parents who waited until they were well-off financially to have children.

The only struggle I’ve ever had in my life is with depression (genetic/hereditary, nothing I can really do about it). I’m in college now, my parents pay for my expensive university with all their heart, they go out of their way to do little things to make me happy.

My mom will surprise me with take out from my favorite restaurant, my dad will surprise me with basketball tickets or take me to see a movie. We have “arguments” but its 99% of the time over little things that we don’t remember 10 minutes later, and it rarely happens.

We operate as a family, make decisions as a family. Like every important decision I make is not all on me, its as a family, so it’s low risk, high reward. A big part of parents being loving is parents being responsible, and my parents have always been responsible adults.

I think its a special kind of cruel when a child loses the strong image of parents, or they never had it in the first place. I view my parents as strong figures, anchors. They have their moments of weakness but overwhelmingly are always strong.

I only hope to continue this and be an even better parent to my eventual kids.”

8. A good upbringing.

“I’m 25 (nearly 26). My parents were incredible growing up, and they still are. I grew up middle class, never extravagantly wealthy or anything, but we never had to worry about where our next meal was coming from.

My mom is a pretty tough lady. She’s a 3rd generation Italian immigrant and grew up on The Hill, St. Louis’s Italian neighborhood. She kept us (my brother, sister and I) in line and was never very sentimental, but she always cared for us and stuck up for us.

My dad is one of 6 siblings. He’s the second oldest. He is a very caring, sentimental guy. He’s 62 and retired now, but he worked as an information technology project manager for Anheuser Busch and made good money.

They both provided well for us, gave us what we needed and were fair in their discipline when they needed to be. I realize at my age now that they sacrificed a lot along the way – taking us to soccer and baseball games, dropping us off and picking us up from school every day, dealing with our being whiny and annoying, all kinds of stuff. I suppose I really did have the sort of classic, American dream childhood and I think I’ve always taken it for granted.

What was it like, OP asks? It was nice. It was comfortable when it needed to be and challenging when appropriate. I live on my own now and I’m going over to see them for Father’s Day today. I may mention a word of thanks for giving me a pretty nice life.”

9. This is important.

“The most beautiful part is watching your parents love EACH OTHER!

Didn’t even see how this would be valuable until I became an adult and learned that not everyone gets to grow up seeing healthy love. This plays an important factor in the relationships I have and it’s the reason why I’m glad to say I’m a healthy SO.

Whenever I hear about people I know in a abusive and toxic relationships, the first thing I always ask is how were their parents relationship…trauma is a real and unfortunate learning mechanism.”

10. Setting expectations.

“My dad is definitely responsible for my expectations of men. I don’t think it’s even possible to replicate the kind of love my parents still have for each other 37 years later.

They’re seriously best friends. Every day at 10:40am my dad calls my mom on his lunch break so they can keep each other company and I can’t even get a text back.”

11. Simply amazing.

“Amazing!

My mother is the most loving and caring mother you could ask for. Im 30, but still close as hell with my mum, visit every weekend and help her with the DIY side of things in her home. She’s slowly going blind which is heartbreaking to watch her struggle with day to day life!!

Once she’s completely blind, I’m leaving my job to help look after her as much as i can. She gave me and my siblings the best upbringing she could of given us, so I have to repay her.

So yeah, its great having loving parents. You will do anything for each other.”

12. Mutual respect.

“The feeling of acceptance, understanding, and security. Also the immense knowing that they will do anything for you, even if it means that they go through hell.

My father and mother escaped from communist countries (Poland and Vietnam), and nearly died during it. Upon arriving they worked many jobs and went through hell in order to give us a good upbringing.

My father owns a pizza shop, and in its early days he worked from 8am-3am, usually not being able to sleep beacuse of the stress of knowing that if something goes wrong, his family will starve. At the worst of it (that I know of), he had to set up a mattress at the back of the store, and slept there so he knew that it would be okay.

My parents have been through hell and back for us, and will in the future if they need to, nevertheless they gave us enough attension and love.

One of the biggest thing for me is trust, I trust them, and they do trust me. We have a mutual respect.”

13. Nothing in return.

“They make sacrifices every day for you and don’t expect anything in return because they do it out of pure love.

None of that constant guilt tripping like, “I do everything for you, and you don’t do anything, you ungrateful child!!” They do it because they want you to succeed and flourish.

Not because they want you to be obligated back to them.”

14. Sounds corny, but it’s true.

“It’s hard to explain actually.

My parents are just always there for me and are so supportive. They share in my achievements, encourage me to get to my goals and are there for me when I’m down. It sounds so corny but it is really true!

It took me 6 years to get my degree because I was working full time. Mum and dad would come over during exam weeks and cook me dinner or do my washing, just because they knew how stressed I was. When I had a miscarriage (ectopic so I had to stay in hospital a little while), they dropped in daily with food, toiletries, etc for both my husband and I.

They have supported me financially over the years (they are in no way “well off”) like when my washing machine broke, they bought me a second hand one even though they actually needed a new machine themselves. They prioritise me (and my husband) over themselves.

They might be a little overbearing at times but I am so grateful they are my parents.”

15. Sometimes, it’s only one of them.

“I had a loving mom, but a very shitty dad.

My mom supported me through all my school. Would go to different stores to get me supplies for my projects. She’d try to read the same books I had to so she could engage in critical thinking discussions.

Attended my sporting events and cheered me on. Would lay in bed with me after I’d have a nightmare and run her fingers through my hair till I fell asleep. Would constantly reassure me that I was capable of pursuing my dreams. She made sure to tell me she loved me every day and give me hugs frequently.

She’s an amazing woman and am so grateful I have her.”

Now we want to hear from you.

In the comments, tell us about your parents.

Whether you had a good childhood or a bad one, we’d like to hear from you.

Please and thank you!