"They never missed a match. We missed each other for years."
I grew up playing soccer.
My parents were there for every single game, right up until the day I stopped playing. They loved watching me.
But for years, we couldn't talk about my games the right way. I was a good player. But if I scored two goals, what I heard was: "You could have scored three."
Every time, I felt judged. So after a while, the words stopped landing at all and I closed the door.
For a long time, I simply stopped talking about how I played. And it didn't stay on the field. That habit of holding back quietly followed me into everything else, too.
It took me thirty years, and a lot of work on myself, to understand why I had shut down and to finally open that door again.
Looking back, I don't blame them. No one ever taught them what to say, or when to say it. That's the whole reason this exists.
Not because I have all the answers as a parent, but because I know exactly how it feels to be the kid in the car on the ride home.
These guides are the words I wish someone had given my parents.