Ten Things you need to tell your Adult Children
My
sons are adults. They are wonderful, smart, successful adults and I adore them. They have their own lives and thankfully still
include us in their lives. I do wonder sometimes, however, how much we should
still be trying to influence their lives. Do they want our advice? Do my
“suggestions” sound like a nagging mom? Should we share our experiences or let
them make their own mistakes? Hopefully we are doing a little of each – it’s
tough to avoid either.
So I decided I would write a few things that I want to tell my adult
children – great advice they need to hear. So listen up, guys. . . . . .
Advice to My Adult Children
1. Be
kind. It doesn’t take money. It doesn’t take time. There’s usually a choice
– be kind, ignore the person/situation or be mean. Don’t ever be mean, karma
will come back to bite you tenfold. Sometimes you can ignore without being
mean. Mostly, just be kind. It’s the right thing to do.
2. Overdress. If you think you need
to dress up, then dress up. It’s always better to overdress for a situation
than show up looking like a bum. (Don’t be smart, I’m not talking about a tux.)
3. Don’t settle. I really don’t see
millennials settling for things that don’t make them happy and I’m all for that
– most of the time. If you hate your job, get another one. If you don’t like
where you live, move. You’re not a tree.
4. Save some money. Pay
yourself first and put it away. Don’t get through the month and then put away
whatever you might have left. You may not have anything left. Put it away
first. Added simple pleasure: it adds up quickly.
5. Never fill out your recipient’s email address on your email until
you’re ready to send. Do you know how many
emails get sent accidentally? Well, me neither, but it’s a lot. Don’t be one of
them. It could have really disastrous results.
6. Make your bed. Nah,
I’m kidding. I seriously don’t care if you make your bed or not. I think it’s a
good thing so your bedroom looks neat and you start your day accomplishing
something but really who cares? Just make sure to wash those sheets once in a
while. That’s much more important. Especially your pillowcases. Think about it.
Ewww.
7. My simple rule of “the more you. . .”. You know, the more vegetables you eat, the more
vegetables you will eat. It’s all about good habits. The more you practice your
good habits, the more they become your good habits. (Unfortunately this can
apply to bad habits too so watch yourself. . . repeating a bad habit can make
it seem okay).
8. Mindfulness. This is pretty much
the key to everything. Be mindful of your decisions and actions. Don’t get
crazy with impulsive or spur-of-the moment decisions. A little spontaneity is
good. It’s fun. Rushing into important decisions, not so much.
9. Love your siblings. Even when you don’t always like them. When it comes to the end of
the day, they are the ones who are there for you. You are lucky enough to have
some true friends, but it still doesn’t compare to the unconditional love of
family. Do this until the day you leave this earth or I will make sure to haunt
you forever. ‘Nuff said.
10. Know that your parents love you with their entire hearts and souls. You probably won’t really understand this until you
have children of your own. Even then it may seem incredible. After all, we
didn’t let you do a lot of things that you wanted to do and we weren’t always
nice or fun. Sometimes we still aren’t that nice or fun. Who knew that would be
one of the tough parts of loving you?
I know
– I said ten things. But I’m your mother and I have something else to add – and
you’re lucky it’s not more than 11. This is a great one: pay off your
credit card every week. Pick a time – maybe it’s Friday at lunchtime.
. . . pay off the balance. The smaller balance isn’t as intimidating and it may
even help you to budget your spending. So what if the credit card company gets
your money early? You will never have a late payment fee and you aren’t earning
anything on it anyway. Do this and you will never have a credit card problem.
Eventually,
hopefully long and far away, we will get old (no, we are not old now!) and need
to hear advice and reminders from you. You may wonder how much you should try
to influence our lives. Sound familiar? You may think this is one of the
toughest parts of loving us.
I
already know that the toughest part of loving you will be one day leaving you.
Until then, I plan on giving you advice and subtle reminders. (Maybe a few
not-so-subtle reminders, too). Your turn will come. And when it does, refer to
#1.
Love
You With All My Heart and Soul,
Mom
Thanks to this mom and my mom.
Con amor,
Vero
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