Sometimes they do know best

Most parents have years of experience that can outweigh our inexperience. Usually they have our best interest at heart. This can be hard to accept, no matter how old we are. When your parent gives you advice, you might want to stop and listen. You may be able to use only 1% of that advice, but that 1% may be very valuable.

A few months ago, my seven-year-old came to me with scissors in his hand and asked if he could cut his hair. Of course I told him “no”, and took the scissors away. He immediately went downstairs, found another pair of scissors, and proceeded to cut his hair anyway, removing sizeable chunks in multiple spots. If it hadn’t looked so ridiculously funny, he would have gotten into much more trouble, but we decided his punishment would be at least one day in school before we fixed it. When I asked him why he’d done it, he said, “I just wanted to see what it felt like to cut my hair.”

This reminded me of a few decisions I made as a child, when I thought I knew better than my mom. I shared these with my children, hoping that they would learn from my experience. The one that stood out the most was my cactus petting. After being told never to touch a small wooly cactus, I decided not only to touch it but fondle it. What did my mom know? It looked soft enough. To my surprise, it was extremely soft. I petted it, and petted it, all the while thinking my mom was a fool. My mother and I soon realized that despite its soft coat, it had left thousands of thorns in my hand, which my mom was not very happy to tediously remove.

Our parents do know us the best and have usually experienced something similar to what we are going through. They want to help, they want to give advice, they want to keep us safe. So listen, because sometimes they do know best.