Best Advice from Mothers

Bloom where you’re planted

My mom taught me that she loves me, no mat­ter what. She taught me that hol­i­days are there to be cel­e­brated, and there’s noth­ing wrong with mak­ing up hol­i­days. She taught me to bloom where I’m planted, as an Army brat. She taught me to serve oth­ers when I’m feel­ing self­ish. When­ever I went on a date or to a sleep­over, she said, “Remem­ber who you are, and who Heav­enly Father wants you to be.” She taught me that it’s fun­ni­est to burp when you’re all dressed up at the Christ­mas Din­ner table. She taught me the value of choco­late. She taught me how to say “I love you,” fre­quently but not casu­ally. My mom’s the best, and she’s way bet­ter than I’ll ever be. I’m gonna call her right now, and tell her so.
–Molly, Provo, Utah

Multi­gen­er­a­tional and sound advice

“If you can’t say some­thing nice, then don’t say any­thing at all.“
“Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty. They’ll wash clean.“
“Work before play.“
“You can if you think you can!“
“Keep your chin up. It’s not the end of the world.“
Mom’s Mom (Grandma) often said:
“Life isn’t always fair.“
“Never lie, cheat, or steal.“
“Never be too proud to ask for help when you need it.“
“You catch more flies w/honey than vine­gar.“
Now that’s sound advice! I love you Mom, and Grandma:-)
–J. McMillen, Lin­coln, Neb.

Mom and best friend

My mother was the most spe­cial per­son in the world! She raised six chil­dren by her­self. Her chil­dren ALWAYS came first. She taught all of us to be com­pas­sion­ate, lov­ing and to always be the best we could be. My mother had to quit school in her teens, but she man­aged to get her degree in her 50’s and then went on to get her nurs­ing degree! I am so proud of what my mom accom­plished. I lost my mom 5 years ago. I not only lost my mom, but I lost my BEST FRIEND! I miss her every day. She would have loved her great-granddaughter with all her heart! I’m sure she is look­ing down on her chil­dren, say­ing what won­der­ful moth­ers we are!
–Arlene Shaf­fer, Palmyra, N.J.

When I was grow­ing up there was just my brother and I. He was four years older and quite a big guy that played a lot of sports. I wanted to be like him and play all of the same sports. My mom encour­aged me to go out and play any sports that I wanted to and fought for me to be able to play with the boys. She told me to never let any­one tell me I can’t do any­thing because I’m a girl. Today I work in tech­nol­ogy which has been a male dom­i­nated work force until recently. I have run across being paid less for the same job while my qual­i­fi­ca­tions are more so. I will never let that get me down or feel I can’t do the same job as well or bet­ter then any­one. I can do any­thing I set my mind to and work hard at. At the same time, I have raised four chil­dren on my own for the past eleven years and I just know there isn’t any­thing we can’t accom­plish. Thank you, Mom.
–Donna Mac­Don­ald, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada

Give and take

My Grand­mother took care of my brother and me while my Mom worked as a sec­re­tary to sup­port us. On my wed­ding day I asked my Grand­mother who just cel­e­brated her 50^th wed­ding anniver­sary what it took to have a happy long last­ing mar­riage, built on respect and love. She said “give and take in that order”. I will never for­get that and I try to apply that to all of my rela­tion­ships includ­ing friends, fam­ily, cowork­ers, and acquain­tances. It has taught me to always think of oth­ers and my life is richer for it.
–Jen­nifer Cooper, Crossville, Tenn.

Mul­ti­ple lessons of love

My mother taught me many valu­able lessons for lead­ing this life to its fullest. I was born after a period of 18 years from my elder brother so when I was born the rest of my broth­ers were fin­ish­ing col­lege. My mother tells me she devoted all of her time and energy for bring­ing me up. Now that I have turned 21 I have started to real­ize in how many ways I am blessed to have her as my dear mom.

My mother taught me to treat oth­ers with kind­ness and not with a harsh atti­tude. She told me to for­give and for­get. I still remem­ber when I was fin­ish­ing high school my mother told me that she would not send me away for col­lege because she loved me so much and she advised me these few things the night I was leav­ing my town for col­lege abroad. She sat beside me held my hand and gen­tly kissed my fore­head and told me: “If you wish to suc­ceed in this world you have to remem­ber that you have to give in order to receive, you have to make love and not war, and it is always bet­ter to part with some­one as friends and not as an enemy, in the end she told me if you want some­thing badly enough and you work hard for it there is noth­ing in this world that can stop you from get­ting it.”

I love you mother :) You’re a beau­ti­ful angel in my life.
–Haider Zul­fiqar, Day­tona Beach, Fla.

Don’t wish your life away

As a child grow­ing fast, like all of us try to do, my mom would say to me and to my brother that we shouldn’t wish our lives away by wish­ing we were older. I can remem­ber say­ing to her I wish I was six­teen so that I could get my license and she would say you’ll get there soon enough, stop wish­ing your life away. The next thing I knew I was dri­ving. Then, I wished I was 21 so I could really be an adult and go out on the town with friends, my mom again said stop wish­ing your life away it will get here fast enough. The next thing I know I’m 21 and enjoy­ing my adult­hood. Now that I’m 34 I find myself say­ing the same thing to my daugh­ter, I just hope she lis­tens and is not in a big hurry to grow up. I would like to thank my mom for her lov­ing words of advice, because now that I’m older I had wished I’d had lis­ten to her about my life going by fast enough and spent a lit­tle more time enjoy­ing the now. Love you, MOM!
–Melissa Daw­son. East Liv­er­pool, Ohio

Strength and tenderness

Say hello in there, appre­ci­ate oth­ers, espe­cially elderly peo­ple. My Mom is the strongest per­son I’ve ever known, but it is her ten­der­ness that is amaz­ing. She even makes the “Tas­man­ian Devil” that my father can be, turn into some­thing a lit­tle calmer. :) One thing that she and my father have always encour­aged is to say hello in there to those who are lonely, espe­cially the elderly. Grow­ing up, we were taught that not every­one has some­one. Liv­ing in a town of mostly retirees my Mom made sure, espe­cially dur­ing the hol­i­days, that those who were alone had a place to be. She made them feel wel­come and cared for. She taught me that if you see them drop some­thing, help them pick it up. If some­thing is out of reach, bring it down for them. If they want to share a story, make sure to lis­ten because it is some­thing they need to share and some­thing that may change your life. Thank you Mom for teach­ing me one of the most valu­able lessons of life, no mat­ter how a body ages, the spirit stays for­ever young.
–Mag­gie DuBose, Del­ray Beach, Fla.