Growing up, you most likely resisted the constant advice from your mom. Whether she was telling you how to dress, telling you who to hang out with, making you clean your room, or making you go to bed early — your mom was constantly saying pretty much everything you didn’t want to hear.
While it was irritating at the time, the older you get you realize she may have been on to something. It can be hard to say so, but looking back — your mom was a pretty smart lady all along. Let’s be honest — right now, we’d give almost anything to have someone making us healthy meals, giving us life advice and making sure we go to bed at a reasonable hour.
1. When She Told You To Get More Sleep
What you would give to get a full 8 hours of sleep every night. Your mom constantly reminded you that going to bed on time was always important for your mental and physical well-being. While you scoffed at her at the time, she was totally right. Most of us are barely functioning on a minimal amount of sleep, especially since we don’t have a mom enforcing our bedtime every night. If you’re wondering why you’re feeling so sluggish and distracted all the time, give your mom a call and we guarantee she’ll tell you to get some rest ASAP.
2. When She Was Totally Right About Your One ~Toxic~ Friend
We all had that one friend in middle school and high school that our mom always had a bad feeling about. Maybe she was ultra-rebellious, maybe she had a mean-girl streak, maybe she was part of the wrong crowd. While moms could definitely be a little overly-cautious, her advice almost always came from a place of wisdom.
After some sort of dramatic falling out, you realized your mom was right about this toxic “friend” the whole time. While you’d never give her the satisfaction of letting her know, you took her judgments of people a little more seriously after this.
3. When She Told You That High School Would Eventually End
There were times when the horrors of high school felt inescapable. Whether you were fighting with your best friend, dealing with bullies, completely overloaded with school work or just generally miserable — your mom had one piece of advice: it will end. It may have seemed useless at the time, but looking back on it, you wished you had believed her. Now, those issues that felt like the absolute end of the world are just a faint memory. Our moms always knew that almost none of these issues were worth the weeks of stress and worry we put into them.
4. When She Reminded You That School Is Important, But It’S Not Everything
Speaking of being stressed, isn’t it crazy how much you cared about your grades in high school? Maybe not everyone felt this way, but for some of us — high school was crazy stressful. All we wanted to do was get good grades so we could apply to college and get the heck out, and every bad grade we got felt like a total catastrophe. Our moms tried to tell us to take a deep breath, and remind us that grades weren’t everything. At the time, it seemed like every poor test score was going to prevent any future success. Now that we’re older, we seriously wish we had spent way less time stressing over ninth grade English because like, no one cares about that grade once you’re in the real world.
5. When She Told You To Stop Trying To Grow Up
When you’re a kid, all you want to do is be a grown-up. Adults can drive, adults can stay up late, adults don’t have to go to school, and they basically call all the shots. Your mom’s advice was always to stop wishing your youth away, and boy was she right. Now, we’d give pretty much anything to be eight years old, hanging out at home, having our parents take care of you and having no real worries except for what coloring book you should tackle next.
Learning to drive was cool, but now that you have to drive to work or class (or both!), the grocery store, the gym and all your other ~grown up~ errands, it’s a little less glamorous than it seemed.
6. When She Reminded You That Looks Aren’T Everything
Ugh. Middle school and high school are not exactly times of peak self-confidence. All you wanted was to have the same straight hair, perfect teeth, tiny frame and expensive clothes as some of the other girls in your grade did. Your mom always gave you that same advice: looks aren’t that important.
We all struggle with our self-esteem — even the “prettiest” girls are insecure! It sounded totally fake at the time but the older you get, the more you realize that traits like kindness, intelligence, motivation, talent, and — *spoiler alert* — confidence are what really matter. Sure, we all still wish we looked like supermodels at times, but you now realize that that’s not everything.
7. When She Reminded You That Lying Never Works
Time after time throughout your childhood, you most likely got caught in countless lies by your parents. Sneaking out, going to parties, ditching your responsibilities — your teenage years were primarily about sneaking around and hoping to not get caught by your parents.
The only thing is you almost always got caught. Your parents always said that you shouldn’t bother lying because it never works. Despite this advice, you tried time after time and almost never got away with it. We still don’t quite know how, but moms have some sort of sixth sense. And if you were one of the few who did get away with it, congrats — you’re one of the few.
8. When She Tried To Tell You To Be More Careful With Your Money
The second you got your first paycheck, you probably blew it on something kind of useless. Your mom was constantly warning you to be more careful with your money, and boy do you wish you listened to this advice. Now that you’re out on your own with approximately zero budgeting experience, you regret every coffee you bought, every unnecessary crop top and every movie you went to in high school.
How did you manage to spend so much money while not paying rent or buying your own groceries? Your mom warned you would want that money in the future, and omFg, she was right.
9. When She Told You That Bullies Are Just Insecure
When it came to high school bullies, it was almost impossible not to be blinded by hatred. These kids picked on your every insecurity and made it impossible to get through a school day without living in fear. In the hopes of making you feel better, your mom’s advice was always that bullies are just insecure.
While this doesn’t excuse the years of torture they may have inflicted, you realize she was absolutely right. Now that you’re older and see how most of these kids turned out, it’s pretty clear that most high school bullies had a pretty crappy life otherwise (but some of them were just straight-up jerks, TBH).
10. When She Made You Rest Up When You Were Sick
When you were a kid, being sick meant giving up on your very active social life. If you had a cold, you risked missing your class field trip, missing your best friend’s sleepover, or missing your big soccer game. Your mom was always there to basically say, “oh, well.” While it felt like the end of the world at the time, your mom would never let you push yourself when you were sick, and now you get why.
Especially in college where it seems like everyone is always sick, it’s easy to try and push yourself to go out and ignore your illness. This pretty much never works, and you end up way more sick than you were before. Then you get into the real-world and feel like it would be ~the end of the world~ to take one single sick day from work. This just leads to a solid 2 – 3 weeks of a stuffy nose and persistent cough. Once again, mom’s advice was right.
11. When She Told You Your First Heartbreak Wouldn’T Last Forever
So, you finally faced your first heartbreak and it was way worse than you could have ever imagined. Whether it was the end of your first serious relationship or a middle-school crush gone wrong, your mom was there to wipe your tears and try to console you as you became hysterical.
Nothing hurts more than getting your adolescent heart broken in two, but your mom always reminded you that heartbreak won’t last forever. It may not feel like it at the time, or during the weeks after, but her advice was always right — time heals all wounds. You might still be a little salty at the kid who dumped you right before graduation, but that feeling of utter heartbreak is pretty much gone.
12. When She Preached The Importance Of A Clean Room
In reality, most of us still struggle to keep our room clean and still don’t heed this advice, but your mom always had your best interests at heart. Keeping your room clean is something that always makes it easier to focus, and way easier to keep track of your belongings. Every time you absolutely can’t find your favorite top, your book goes missing, or you feel completely embarrassed about the state of your room — you can still hear your mom nagging you to clean your room.
13. When She Freaked Out On Your For Making A Mess In The Kitchen
Speaking of nagging moms, nothing drove you crazier than when your mom flipped out on you for leaving dishes in the sink or leaving food on the counter. However, if you’ve lived with messy roommates, you may understand why this absolutely drove your mom up the wall.
There’s nothing more infuriating than spending the time to clean up the kitchen, only to have your messy roommate leave a pile of dishes in the sink or leave food splatters on the floor. Suddenly, you go into mom-mode wondering why “no one around here respects you.”
14. When She Convinced You Not To Take The Easy Way Out
This is something that’s hard to remember and is definitely something you’re gonna face for the rest of your life. Your mom always taught you that doing a good job or doing what was right is way more important than doing what’s easiest. Maybe you didn’t want to apologize to a friend for something you did, or maybe you just didn’t want to take that extra hour on your homework — there was always a tempting, easier option. Now that you’re older, you know that taking the easy way out may be good for the short-term, but doing the right thing is always the smart move.
15. When She Strictly Enforced Eating As A Family
Sitting down for a family dinner may not have been a necessity in your house growing up, but for some of us — it was sacred. It didn’t matter if you were in the middle of your favorite show, working on a class project, or trying to hang out with your friends — your mom made sure that every member of the family was sitting together and eating dinner at least a few nights a week.
This seemed like an inconvenience while you were growing up, but now you realized some of your favorite times happened while sitting around the kitchen table. Call it nostalgia, but there was nothing nicer than family dinners
16. When She Criticized Your Style Decisions
When you were in middle school and high school, you almost definitely made some questionable haircut, makeup, and fashion choices. The last thing you wanted to hear was your mom’s advice when it came to your appearance. While she wasn’t always right, there were certain extreme style changes you made that she hated, and ended up being pretty right about. Whether it was crazy-colored streaks in your hair, super-unflattering lowrise jeans, or tons of black pencil eyeliner — your mom was not a fan. Now that you’re older, you look back on these choices and wish you had heard her out just a little bit more.
17. When She Told You To Eat Your Veggies
Growing up, your mom was constantly preaching the importance of a healthy and balanced diet. It’s definitely because she knew that early eating habits follow you throughout your whole life. If you had been able to eat what you wanted growing up, you probably would have lived off of Cheez-Its and Pop Tarts. Even though you know the importance of veggies, most of us probably ate like total trash during our first year away from home. It was fun while it lasted, but it probably made you realize why your mom was always begging you to eat all the veggies on your plate and eat a wholesome breakfast.
18. When She Said “Because I Said So”
This the one that’s hardest to admit. Even though it pains us to say so, there was often a reason for your mom’s constant, unwarranted advice. Most of the time, she really did know what was best. There were times when her demands may have seemed unreasonable, but now you realize she almost always had your best interests at heart. Phrases like “because I said so” “because I’m your mother” or “because I just know” may have seemed like total bull, but she had her reasons. There are certain things that moms just know.