What were your parents doing at your age?
What were your parents doing at your age?
Stop. Just for a moment, put your phone aside and close your eyes. Think—at the age you are right now, what were your parents doing? You’re probably scrolling through Instagram, or preparing for a new job, or planning a trip with college friends. But at that same age, your father was waking up at 4 AM to work at a tea stall. Your mother, without any recognition, without any complaints, was balancing family responsibilities and her own dreams. This question isn’t just about looking at the past. This question is about holding up a mirror to your present.
Reason:
You should read this article because all of us have heard our parents say at some point—”In our time…” But we took it only as a story, not as a lesson. Today’s generation has everything—smartphones, high-speed internet, online degrees, startup ideas worth lakhs. But do we have that patience? Do we have that strength to struggle, which our parents had in their time? This article is here to show you a mirror. It is here to tell you that the comfort you enjoy today is not a miracle. It was built on someone else’s silence and hard work.
Benefits:
After reading this article, you won’t just realize how great your parents were. You will also understand what you might be doing wrong in your life that they were doing right. You will understand that dreaming big and achieving those dreams is possible even with fewer resources. You will learn that instead of complaining, instead of questioning others—it’s better to ask yourself: ‘Where I am today, did I reach here on my own, or am I standing on someone else’s foundation?’
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What Were Your Parents Doing at Your Age?
This question is as simple as it is deep. When I sit with this thought, two perspectives clearly emerge. The first is from someone who says that to understand life, you don’t need books—you need human stories. And the second is from someone who says that the formula for success isn’t just about earning money. It’s about becoming a person people look at and feel—”Yes, this is exactly who I want to become.”
So let’s begin with the first perspective.
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First Perspective: Where Lessons Came Not From Books, But From The Streets
You might think that at your age, your father thought like you—career, money, name, fame. But no. At that age, he was only thinking—how will I pay next month’s rent? How will I pay my children’s school fees? How will the kitchen fire keep burning?
I once spoke to a young man who said he wanted to quit his twenty-thousand-rupee job because his salary was too low. I asked him—”How much did your father earn at your age?” He went silent. He had never thought about it. The truth is, our fathers, at that age, were doing work that we consider ‘small’ or ‘below our dignity.’ They were cycling to sell milk. They were going to other people’s homes to teach their children. They were running their families through small, odd jobs. And the most important thing—they never once thought about whether that work was ‘worthy‘ of their respect. They only thought about whether it was ‘necessary.’
And our mothers? They didn’t even have the option of a career. They had degrees, but no one to sell their dreams to. They had skills, but no one recognized them. Still, they woke up at 4 M to light the stove. They kept every account of the household without any Google Docs. Without any YouTube tutorials, they themselves wrote the greatest tutorial on raising children.
Today we say—”I don’t have a work-life balance.” They never even knew that word. For them, work was life and life was work. It doesn’t seem like they ever celebrated a weekend. It doesn’t seem like they ever asked for time for themselves. But they definitely gave you the time they never had.
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Second Perspective: Where Struggle Wasn’t Just Scarcity, It Was Honesty
Now let’s talk about the second perspective. This one teaches us that struggle is not just financial. Struggle is also when you are right but still misunderstood. When you work hard but don’t get recognition.
At your age, your parents were probably in some job where they weren’t valued. Maybe they were in relationships where they had to mould themselves. Maybe they wanted to reach a point where, to get there, they had to kill their own dreams.
This perspective also tells us that the path our parents built for us was not just about money. They sent us to school so we could do what they couldn’t. They gave us freedom so we could become what they couldn’t. And most importantly—they gave us everything they never had.
That smartphone you hold today was a dream at their age. That laptop you use was an imagination at their age. That comfortable life you live today was a story written only for you, at their age.
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The Question Is Not What They Didn’t Have. The Question Is—With Everything We Have, Why Are We Stuck?
I am not asking you to go find struggle. I am asking you to recognize your own struggle. At your age, with far more privileges than them, are you more honest than them? More responsible than them? More patient than them?
Today you have online courses, yet you are starving to learn. Today you have the internet, yet you can’t find the right information. Today you have gadgets worth thousands, yet your attention span is only fifteen seconds.
And your parents? They had just one book, one pen, and one dream. They read that same book again and again. They wore down that same pen with use. And they made that dream so big that today you are sitting in the shade of that same dream.
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The Real Comparison Is Not Of Facilities, But Of Mindset
I am not telling you to live like them. Times have changed. Needs have changed. But the way of thinking should not change.
Your mother, at that age, was awake at 2 AM stitching clothes for you, so you could look new in your school prayer the next morning. Today, you order gifts online for that same mother, but you don’t sit with her for even one cup of tea.
Your father, at that age, used to drop you to coach on his bicycle, just so you wouldn’t have to spend bus fare. Today, you can buy him a car, but you can’t find one hour to sit with him.
This comparison is not about facilities. This comparison is about feeling.
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Now The Question Is For You—What Are You Doing At Your Age?
If your parents were your age today, would they be sitting in the same office you sit in? Would they be working on that same computer you use to watch YouTube? Would they be living in that same city you live in, just because there are parties here, pubs here, shopping malls here?
I am not asking you to become a monk. I am just asking you to pause. Think. Realize that you did not arrive where you are today alone. Someone carried you on their shoulders. And that someone was your parents.
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Conclusion: Remember, You Are The Next Chapter Of Their Story
Every generation thinks it is the wisest. Every generation thinks its parents are outdated. Every generation thinks its challenges are the biggest.
But the truth is—every generation faced the biggest struggle of its time. The only difference is that some turned it into a story and told it, and some silently endured it.
What your parents did at your age, they did for you. They gave you what they never had. They taught you what no one taught them.
And today, at this age, your responsibility is not just to earn well, or to become successful. Your responsibility is to carry forward the story they started writing.
That story was a struggle. That story was of patience. That story was of that love which never showed in words, only in actions.
So the next time you see your parents, don’t just look at them. Look into their eyes. There you will see your own face at their age—the face they once nurtured when they were your age.
And yes—remember this: that face is still as precious today as it was back then. The only difference is—now that face smiles when it sees you. Not for itself. But for you.
READ MORE: Employability skills
Thank You!