My Parents Were Right

Growing up, our parents were never right.  Or at least that’s what I thought.  Depending on whatever age you were, you always knew more than them…or they didn’t have a “clue” about anything going on in your life.  People always say that there is a cycle in life.  From birth-age 5, your parents are gold.  Everything they do and say is gospel.  Then age 6-9, you start to question a little more about what they tell you…still believing them but not 100%.  Age 10-13, your judgement on their info is split about 80/20, where you think that you are right 80% of the time, and them only 20%.  Age 14 and above?  Forget about it.  Parents have no clue.  Then, comes time to enter into adulthood.  Age 19ish-24, you realize that your parents had a pretty good grasp on all those lessons that they taught you in life, and age 25 and above, you are calling your parents on the daily for their words of wisdom.  Oh, how the tables have turned.

We’ve all questioned things that our parents have said.  It’s human nature to do that.  However, throughout the course of life, there are times when it becomes very evident that parents did know what they were talking about because they had lived through it.  All this time, they had been trying to prepare us to not make the same mistakes or choices as them, but we couldn’t see it.  We had to walk that walk on our own.  While many of us did create our own journeys, there are a few times in life, 5 to be exact, that I realized that my parents were right.

1.  Always stand up for yourself.  Parents are children’s biggest supporters in life.  From a young age, they are shaping and molding children to be the best person that they can possibly be.  Throughout life, we get challenged…a lot.  A lesson that many parents spend many years trying to teach their children is that it is okay to stand up for yourself in a respectable manner.  This knowledge is golden.  Think about life.  The friends, the jobs, the career advances or changes…all affect each person differently, and some don’t end so positively.  The lesson learned from parents?  Speak your mind when you are correct.  You deserve to be treated fair and deserve a chance to voice that.
2. Eat your veggies.   Growing up, what was with all the pushing of eating our veggies?  Seriously.  It was like our parents owned a stock in the veggie companies of the world.  Each night, we had to be forced to eat carrots and broccoli and peas….torture.  AH…I get it now.  Veggies fuel our body.  Sugar is bad, veggies are good.  Thanks to our parents for forcing those veggies on us, because our bodies, minds and teeth are healthier.  Our vision and skin is better, and our taste buds are trained now to actually eat an entire plate of broccoli without batting an eye.
3. Believe in yourself.  When we are little, parents are our #1 cheerleaders.  They know we can’t actually play basketball, but yet they will attend each and every one of our games, screaming their heads off like a lunatic fan…because they believe in us.  Let me be the first to tell you..that’s contagious.  In a good way.  Because our parents taught us throughout life to believe in ourselves, we have that mentality that we can tackle anything.  It gives us hope and positivity for our future to think that we have no boundaries in what we can accomplish in life.
4. Get some rest to do your best.  Bedtime as a child was the worst.  What purpose did it serve but to end playtime and be forced to wake up to go to school the next day?  Oh, how naive we were.  Sleeping now, as an adult, is amazing.  Naps are like gold.  We know this now, we respect this.  If we could have grasped this piece of advice earlier in life, just think about how much more rested we could be??
5. There’s always tomorrow.  As a youngster, when something rotten happened, it did feel like the end of the world…but our parents taught us that it wasn’t, and there is always tomorrow to start over on a new journey.  Those words of wisdom and advice couldn’t be more true.  Each and every day, we all have the chance to start over, brand new.  Best words of wisdom, ever.

While those are only 5 times listed about realizing our parents were right, I’m sure many of you have your own memories and thoughts to add.  Bottom line is, we learned a lot from our parents that we use each and every day.  They molded us, shaped us and guided us through our lives to help us become the best possible.  Sounds like a perfect time to thank them, right?  Do it, I’m sure they’d love a phone call from you thanking them for their support and guidance!