If you were to look up the definition for parent would you get this Par•ent\'per-?nt\- one who begets, gives birth to or nurtures and raises a child; a guardian; a protector. A parent isn’t the following: someone who hurts you, lies to you, or judges you because you aren’t like them, or spend time with someone else instead of their children. The ideal parent is the following: someone who cares about you, who will do anything for you no matter what, and someone who wants the best for children.

A parent doesn’t judge their children because they aren’t like they were when they were growing up. Baba, Amir’s father, judges Amir because Amir is always reading a book or poetry. In The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Baba said that he wasn’t like Amir as a child because he would play soccer with the other kids he played with as a child growing up, and Amir isn’t like his father.. My mom would tell me that I shouldn’t wear loose baggy shorts because I don’t look like a lady. She would say that I should wear make-up, earrings, and dress like a lady. The thing is that’s not me, I don’t feel comfortable wearing makeup and dresses and skirts, and I don’t think my mom understands that, she wants me to be someone I’m not because she wants me to look pretty. Baba didn’t like that Amir wanted to become a writer because Baba thinks writing isn’t “real work” on page 134 Baba said “Grunted something about medical school, law school, and “real work”. A parent shouldn’t lie to their child like Baba did to Amir and Hassan; on page 222 Rahim Khan told Amir that Hassan was his half-brother, and that baba hadn’t told Amir because it was frowned upon having relations with anyone in the lower class. A parent also doesn’t choose to spend time with someone else instead of their children. Whenever Amir wants to spend time with Baba, he just tells him that its “adult time” and Amir ends up sitting in front of the door listening to the conversation. I remember a time when my mom went out one night to be with her boyfriend, and waking the next morning and she wasn’t there. They told us that she spent the night with her boyfriend. That made my sisters and me really sad that she would rather spend time with her boyfriend than her own daughters. An ideal parent wouldn’t do any of these actions.

An ideal parent is someone who is always there for you, gives you good advice, supportive, teaches them to never lose hope, and spends times with them. In the Kite Runner Rahim Khan read Amir’s first story and said that it was good and that he should keep writing; he also gave Amir a leather bound notebook to write all of his stories in. A perfect parent also has high expectations for their children, my dad always expects me to get A’s and B’s in school, whenever he sees a C on my progress report he bites my head off about the C that I shouldn’t be getting those grades. Baba also has high expectations for Amir because he wants him to be a man and stand up for himself and speak his mind. A good parent gives good advice, like when my mom told me that I should marry someone who will be kind to me, and take care of me, but then she ended up telling me that I shouldn’t marry at all, but I think she was trying to say that if I want to get married to find someone who will treat me right. In the book Baba told Amir to be careful with Soraya’s father because he has honor and pride when it comes to his wife or daughter (145). A parent also wants what’s best for their children; on page 216-217 Hassan said “… I have taught him to read and write so he does not grow stupid like his father.” This is showing that Hassan want his son to have the opportunities he didn’t have as a child growing up, as a Hazara Hassan wasn’t able to go to school because of his class.

I hope my relationship with my mom gets better and she would stop judging me by what I wear, and hopefully stop telling me that I should dress more like a girl. Kite Runner also taught me to appreciate the time we have with our loved ones because you never know when something bad might happen and they won’t be there anymore.