My parents are cool. Way cooler than I am. And as a child of cool parents, I have accepted that and moved on. Having cool parents is awesome. Well, mostly. But there are still some struggles that anyone growing up with the "cool mom/dad" will inevitably face.

1. Their social life is infinitely more interesting.

"What are you doing tonight?" "We're going to a concert and then a bar crawl and then a big party. How about you?" "Oh, I was going to eat cookie dough in my pajamas and watch SNL"

2. They are the worst influences.

I was always a good kid, and my parents thought that I needed to make more good stories. At least if I did stupid things with them I wouldn't get hurt. So I definitely got a tattoo with my mom on a whim and broke underage drinking laws with my dad because, well, make stories.

3. Your friends all had curfews and you didn't.

I remember when I had a curfew. It was midnight for about a weekend. After that it was, "just let us know if you'll be home by sunrise." That was great until all my friends went home early, and I felt like I needed to stay up and do something fun.

4. You want to live up to their ridiculously high coolness level.

And you totally can't. I imagine my parents think of their lame child the way most kids think of their lame parents.

5. Your friends like them more than you.

My friends from high school to college TOTALLY liked my parents more. I literally have had friends call me, say hi, and then ask me to put my mom on the phone.

6. You've partied with your parents.

And it's a struggle to keep up.

7. You can't follow their advice because you're just never going to have that experience.

"When you're going to a bar crawl, make sure you look at each other's shoes because when one of you disappears into the night you'll have to check under bathroom stalls."

8. They know everything.

They have so much life experience that they just honestly know everything. To an annoying extent. And they love to share their knowledge with their lame kids who will never do anything that awesome.

9. Your mom dresses better than you.

I'm always raiding my mom's closet for something to wear on the rare occasion I go out. When she takes me shopping, I know I'll leave with the most awesome outfit the store stocks.

10. When they ask how school is going, they don't mean your grades.

Yeah, yeah, my parents care about my grades. But they'll call me to make sure I'm not drowning myself in my studies and I'm actually socializing with people.

11. You don't have cool stories to tell, so you just tell their stories.

Yeah, I know it's lame. They're just so much cooler than I am.

Having the cool parents can be a struggle, but it's also a ton of fun. I learned some of the most important lessons life has to offer by having fun with my parents. Above all, they taught me the importance of making stories and having fun. But they never let their kids down. They knew when to be strict, and they knew when to be relax a bit. My dad's motto was that strict parents raise sneaky kids. He was right. My brother and I rarely lied or disobeyed our parents. If they said no to something, we didn't test it. As a result, we're a very close family. My brother and I don't really keep secrets from our parents, and I wouldn't have it any other way.