What I learned from my mother
Of all the things your mother ever taught you, either by word or by example, what has really stuck with you? What have you learned from your mother?
10 Responses to “What I learned from my mother”
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April 29th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
My mom’s famous advice was (and continues to be) “Consider your options.” It was a phrase I really did not like hearing as I was growing up, but it is now something I really live by.
April 29th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
I learned so many things from her that it’s hard to write about just one. But certainly one of her major contributions to our lives was her (and my dad’s) very committed fight against racism and prejudice in all forms. All her adult life, until her death a few years ago, she devoted herself to working with community groups and agencies whose goals were to fight social injustice and bring people together in understanding. We were lucky that we grew up with friends, neighbors, and schoolmates of all colors and nationalities, which I took for granted then but later learned was not typical for those times. She was never a hypocrite and always lived what she preached. Thank you, Mother, for that wonderful gift!
April 29th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Kristin, do you think you could get your mother to give my daughter a call and tell her that? That’s definitely advice she can use but she won’t listen to anything that her clueless old mom tries to tell her!
April 29th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Everything I have learned from my mother has been of value. She is the most important person in my life. I could not function without her. She has raised me to be kind and loving and considerate of all others. She taught me that everyone is equal, no matter sexual preference, beliefs or background. I am so unbelievably thankful to have her, someone who I feel closer to than anyone else in the world.
If I had to choose only one piece of advice to continue passing along from her it would have to be…Don’t be afraid to try something new.
April 29th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
My mother was of Polish decent and she used to reprimand us in Polish but we aswered her in English, any way she taught us to do right no matter what, even if it hurt but we allway new she was right.
She was very proud of us boy’s and one girl Elizabeth, she thaught that the sun rose and shined on only her boys and girl but some times we clouded up the sun and later on in life we knew that we had the most wonderfull mother on earth, pop wasn’t too bad either, stict and don’t cross him.
April 29th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Each of my parents had a great sense of humor, and my mom taught me by example how to use my wit to get ahead. She always had a comeback to anything anybody would toss at her. My siblings and I threw a party for my parent’s 50th wedding anniversay. When my Mom walked out of the bedroom, after spending hours getting ready my dad said “Honey, you look like a million bucks. You look like a young Betty Grable!” My mom got a wry smile on her face and said “Damn, I was going for Cher!” As to her actual instructions for real life: One time I tried out for a show and I was dead certain I was going to get the lead. When that didn’t work out and I was crushed as only a 13 year old could be my mom let me vent all of the way home in the car and then she turned her head to me and said ” We can’t always be the oak tree. Sometimes we have to be the acorn!” I don’t know if it was the delivery, but I started cracking up and by the day of the first rehearsal I was totally over not being the lead! I never let her live that one down, and, actually, there is a lot of truth in that statement!
April 30th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
I’ll have to remember this line and use it with my daughter. I have the feeling, though, that she will NOT crack up as you did but will get huffy and refuse to speak to me for the next 10 minutes.
May 1st, 2008 at 12:08 am
I think the best thing I learned from my mother was resiliency. She had a lot of barriers in her life, but she still managed to emerge as a true community leader. We did not always get along, but I respected her for what she was able to achieve. She grew up with very little, and was outwardly very social but inwardly always secretly afraid she didn’t quite fit in. But she (and my father) managed to leave a legacy in our community that I am very proud of. I just hope I can live up to it!
May 7th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
I don’t know if I got this through her genes or through her example, but my mother endowed me with her pride in her house, which meant she always kept it clean and beautifully decorated even on a shoestring budget. My tastes are very, very different from hers but I’ve lavished the same love and care on my home as she did on hers. Even when my husband and I were just starting out in an apartment and had to use sheets for curtains, we made sure they were pretty and matched what little furniture we had. We tacked posters on the walls so there would be nice things to look at. Now we have a real house and even though we still don’t have tons of money to spend on it, we’ve decorated and painted and fixed it up so that it’s a pleasure to be at home and we’re proud to show it to our guests. I don’t always keep it immaculate on a day-to-day basis but you can be sure that before company comes over I spend many hours scrubbing and dusting and tidying up so that it will be immaculate for their visit. Thank you, Mother, for setting this example.
May 7th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Ayimp, my mother tried her best to set that same example for me but unfortunately she failed miserably. I love my house, but hate to clean (and am too busy and tired anyway) so most of the time it is what my father once called “a hurrah’s nest”! (Actually, as I recall my father said it was what his mother would have called a hurrah’s nest, so the expression is pretty old.) I do spend hours cleaning before I have guests, though my daughter does not and I am often quite embarrassed at the condition of the house when her friends come over. Ah, well.