” use your manners”
“wear clean underwear”
“Don’t stick your tongue on the flag pole in the winter time”
“No, you can’t play in the dryer”
“Stop sucking on the cat’s tail”
Advice comes in many ways..
we disguise it and dress it up to looks nicer than it is. We dispense it whether the person is receptive or not. We seek it from self-help books and our friends.
In my life I have found that many times God will use the right person at the right time to tell me exactly what I need to hear right when I need to hear it.
sometimes the advice is nothing but meaningless drivel needing to be tossed away.
Trust me, I have heard it all.
As a mother I find myself saying things I never dreamed I would.
I chuckle sometimes wondering what if anything my children will Remember.
Will the nuggets of wisdom rise to the top of their subconscious or if they will remember the ridiculous comments muttered during moments of sleep deprivation? Heck the stuff I remember from my childhood is all mismatched already so I’m probably remembering a lot of it wrong.
I wonder if that’s happened to them too?
When I was in high school my dad told me the best way to catch a fish was to make sure my pant zipper was down.
I unzipped my zipper, planted my feet on the dock with my fishing rod firmly grasped in my hands and waited while my dad chuckled under his breath.
He was wrong.
I didn’t catch anything.
Not all of the advice I’ve been given over the years has been horrible.
Some have been life changing.
My Nana encouraged me to start writing so that’s how my first blog “adventures with three” started way back in 2007. Sharing my stories over the phone spilled out over there and then when the youngest came we became “Adventures with Four”.
Transparency had been hard and sometimes I’m more guarded than I really needed to be. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows but the good out weighs the bad.
I shared a little about my early miscarriages, our travels and everything in between.
It’s been an amazing creative outlet and a great way to meet new people.
I just wish she was still here so she could see where I am now.
Years ago my dad told me to make sure that I was being true to myself.
It doesn’t matter what other people think about me or what they say about me. No matters what.
Be yourself.
The rest will fall into place.
I will admit I’m a people pleaser and my nose gets out of joint sometimes when I feel like I’m being mistreated but he was right.
Since we all love to share advice (and we receive it more than we recognize)
What is the one piece of advice that still sticks with you today?
Say Yes to your kids when ever possible
My dad’s advice was save your first kiss for your wedding day. It’ll be worth more than you will ever realize. I did and that picture is framed and because I guarded it and my purity until I married my husband, it was exactly as my father said “worth more than I realized.” It taught my husband and I how to turn to The Lord during times of temptation but most of all it showed me how valuable my husband found our relationship because he was willing to put himself and his wants/desires aside to honor what I deemed special and important. 8 1/2 years later, I do not regret that decision at all.
Don’t burn bridges. Even if you are SUPER angry at someone, take a breath and cool off and never say all that you could say. You never know when or how you will run into that person again.
LOL My mom always preached about clean underwear.
Kas
Never go to bed angry! Sometimes it’s hard to do, but it is so important. 🙂
You may laugh but my dad gave me advice when I was young…he said the reason you are not supposed to have sex with a lot of people because you leave part of your heart with them when you do…it prevented me from making a lot of mistakes when it came to love.
We have that exact advice to our youth group!
Such an important truth too.
Strive for 110% even if you don’t reach it you know you put in one heck of an effort.
Your attitude is your calling card!
Great advice, ‘be yourself’… it’s true. If you be yourself, everything else WILL fall into place. My dad was the one growing up who would give me all the advice and for the most part – he was right.
“Stop sucking on the cat’s tail” If I had a cat, I’m sure I would have said this one already…lol
my favorite is always wear clean underwear!!
After 7 kids, by the time I came along my parents were in their 40’s and worn out. They let me get away with things because I am such a free spirit and don’t take no as an answer from anyone. One from my mom I remember was “don’t go outside with your hair wet, as you will catch a cold.”
My dad always told me, don’t count your chickens before they’ve hatched. I never understood it until I did and kinda hated that phrase after that.
Must be a dad thing because mine told me that too. I hated the day when I figured it out too.
If you don’t have something nice to say than don’t say nothing at all. Also the phrase, “Get up and try it again.”
I remember bugging my mom about Christmas one year. I kept asking her when was Christmas going to be here. One time she said, Christmas is right around the corner. I went outside, walked around the corner and felt silly.
Do unto others. I always try to treat others the way that I want to be treated. I think that is really important.
My mother would always say, if you have nothing nice to say don’t say anything at all. That has surely saved me from a lot of trouble and I’ve also gotten into a bit of trouble by not heeding her wisdom. 🙂
Brett said what I was going to say about never going to bed angry, but I was going to say that I always ignored that advice and that worked better for me! lol
Roflmao!
As a mom of a six year old, I definitely find myself actually saying so many of these things from day to day.
“Stop putting peanut butter on the cat’s butt” is one I’ve had to say!
Eww!! Loli
The thing I always remember my father saying is, “Punctuality is a trait of leadership” I have always lived by that rule. I am laughing that you had to tell a child not to play in the dryer!
We have a front loading dryer and every time I go to empty it the 3 year old climbs inside. Oi!
I’m drawing a blank, though I know I’ve had plenty of advice thrown my way over the years. And of course I’ve given advice too- and yes, probably advice that was unwanted. 🙂
I love “stop sucking on the cats tail.” That reminds me of when I had to chase down my daughter and her friend to tell them to stop chasing cars and barking at them! I think the best advice I ever received was to keep emergency savings in case an unexpected expense came up.
Ha! I needed a laugh today. Maybe not the best advice, but my sister once told me to stick it in my ear. 🙂
Honestly the best advice I was ever told, and I constantly remind myself is, to remember that everything happens for a reason. Even if in the moment it seems horrible and awful, it’s all apart of His plan. Later on, I constantly have those “ah ha” moments of why those things did happen.
winners never cheat and cheaters never win.
Great pearls of wisdom!! I’d like to add one of my favorites: The wise old owl sat on the oak. The more he sat, the less he spoke. The less he spoke, the more he heard. Why aren’t you like that wise old bird?
These are all great little tid bits of advice! Thanks so much for sharing!
That is some great advice there. I think one that I heard early on, it might have even been from the first Bob Newhart series (ya, dating myself here!) is to not go to bed angry at your spouse. That one is a keeper.
Yes even though these are common sense, I got a chuckle at the wear clean underwear!
Stop sucking on the cat’s tail. Epic.
I love reading all this great advice!
Hi Francine!
I’m glad you enjoyed the list!
What about you?
What piece of advice do you have that has shaped your life?
Smile at the first 10 people you meet and your day will go great!
Awesome advice!!
never go to bed angry. that’s the best advice i’ve ever had.
Lol! When I was first married my hubby and I would stay up into the wee hours of the morning so we wouldn’t go to bed mad. That’s harder advice to follow than I ever dreamed it would be!
A little old bitty at my church told me to “fight naked” with my hubby 😉
Always wear clean underwear – you never know who is going to see it (according to my mom that meant a doctor or nurse in an emergency!)
Roflmao… In college this would have meant a hot date!