Dear Parents Who Can’t Stop Nagging,

While coming home for the holidays is something we’ve dreamed about all through finals or the last weeks of work, sometimes it’s more like the Kardashians than a Rockwell painting. Stress runs high during the holiday season and family has a way of bringing those tensions out. That stress can be made even worse by coming home to a duo of nagging parents! Parents, we know you’ve been anxiously awaiting our homecoming so you could ask us all those lingering questions about our love lives, GPAs and potential job promotions. You picture this as a time to bond with your children after they’ve left the nest.

We, on the other hand, are spending at least part of our travel time thinking of an exit strategy should these topics arise. Not only that, but after being out on our own, whether it’s for a few months or a few years, returning to our childhood bedrooms often causes you to treat us as children. I hate to break it to you parents, but we have done alright this year. We are alive and well. We’ve attended all our classes, made it to our jobs on time, fed our pets, and even had time to have some fun.

We millennials get a bad wrap as the lazy, unmotivated, entitled generation. I will be the first to admit that there are some out there who fit the description perfectly, but just because they speak the loudest doesn’t mean they should define out entire generation. Even the lazy ones have managed to get up and microwave themselves a few pizzas this year. Parents, you raised us. You sent us off into the world with all the skills necessary to succeed and whatever skills we didn’t have, we learned. I know when we come home you see your babies, the kids you taught to ride bikes, the kids who needed you to chase monsters out from under their bed, but your kids are all grown up now. We might still have a lot to learn but none of us would have made it this far without you.

This holiday if you are home for a month after your first semester of college, just a few days from your first job, or bringing your first child home, remember when your parents look at you they are looking at their children too. Give them a break when they ask what time you will be home, who that cute guy is in your picture on “the Facebook" or give you unsolicited advice. Old habits die hard. They are just doing what parents do. Try looking at things through their eyes this year and thank them for giving you a place to come home to this holiday.

Thanks Mom and Dad for all the times you gave me advice I didn’t want, asked me where I was going and who I was going with (even when I wasn’t living at home anymore) and always caring. No matter where I lived or where I was in life you have been there for me. Everything I’ve accomplished I owe to you. I love you guys!

Love Always,

All the Children Who Are Secretly Happy You Never Stopped Nagging.