SURVEY SAYS: Mom’s Wisdom

Last week, in honor of Mother’s Day, I asked NewsDash readers to share words of wisdom from their mothers.

Readers cited some good advice, and many were the standards, including one my Mom taught me that I try to live by: “If you can’t say something nice about someone, don’t say anything at all.” However, instead of the usual warning, “Don’t cross your eyes, or they’ll get stuck like that,” one reader’s Mom encouraged eye-crossing because it was good exercise for those muscles.  

One of my favorite reader responses is something I’ve said to my own children: “Nobody is thinking about you half as much as you think they are.”  

Verbatim  

Little kids little problems…big kids big problems. 

 

If you aren’t bleeding, you aren’t hurt 

 

I can’t MAKE you (insert chore, behavior) but I sure can make you WISH you had!! 

 

“Time waits for no man”. Now, if you asked what I as a Mom impart, it would be “Don’t be in such a hurry to grow up!” and “Think carefully and act thoughtfully, because you have to live with the consequences of your decision.” 

 

Don’t make someone your priority while allowing yourself to become their option.

Verbatim (cont.)  

stop playing with it, you're gonna break it. stop playing with it, you're gonna break it. stop playing ... never mind. she never got to say it 3 times, whatever it was, was always broken by then. 

 

"...they're probably in the last place you left them..." 

 

Like Mark Twain, the older I get the wiser my mother becomes. My favorite saying of hers is "Nobody is thinking about you half as much as you think they are." It always helps me keep things in perspective. 

 

Don't put off till tomorrow what you can do today 

 

Don't touch that, you don't know where it's been. 

 

Whenever we would ask Mom how to spell something she would give us the first 2 letters then say "look it up". Looking back on it we realized it was because she didn't know either) 

 

May sound odd but "Don't worry or be sad, I'm ready to go." My Mom died and I miss her but there is great comfort and teaching in knowing that she was at peace and with Jesus at the end. Thank you and Happy Mother's Day Mom. 

 

Only accept a job managing people where you have the authority to hire and fire the people. 

 

It's as easy to marry a rich man as a poor man. 

 

If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. 

Verbatim (cont.)  

Sit Up Straight and Eat Your Vegetables. 

 

If you can't say something nice about someone, don't say anything at all. 

 

"Actually crossing your eyes is good exercise for those muscles" and then she proceeded to show me how to cross one at a time, which I can still do. (She worked with blind and low vision people.) 

 

Marriage is not 50/50...it's 100/100. You each have to give your all every day. 

 

don't ever say or do anything you would not want on the front page of the newspaper (now we would change that to social media). 

 

Buy low, sell high and marry money. 

 

Always be kind to others even if others are not kind to you. 

 

Mom always encouraged us to say THANK YOU. She referred to them as two powerful little words. She recently passed away so this will be the first Mother's Day without her. I took some time and wrote thank-you letters to the people who were so kind and caring to my mom! I can still hear her telling me to always remember to say thank you! 

 

Don't procrastinate! 

 

You will attract more bees with sugar than with vinegar. 

 

Don't take any wooden nickels.

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