Eat your Veggies!

Moms are full of good advice.

I tried explaining to my daughter this week how I always know/want what's best for her, and I'm always looking out for her, and that when I feel cold, that it means she needs to wear a sweater... she's 11, and I don't think she believed me on that last bit. She gave me the look that I give my husband when he tells me he doesn't NEED to go see the doctor.

Moms are full of good advice, though, even if we're not sure where our inspiration comes from.

With my son, who is 8, I tried to explain how I could always tell what he'd done by how he cried. That there is a cry that means "Feel bad for me" and one for "Ow. That hurt, but I'm fine" and one for "GET OVER HERE NOW!!!!!" He gave me the look that Annie gave me when I told her she was cold and needed a sweater.

Moms' advice dispensers are always in action; we like to train our kids to be good, responsible, thrifty, dependable, tidy, honest, all those things we wish we were more often. In spite of the looks we get for sounding like living fortune cookies. In spite of the fact that we often feel like we're making it up as we go along. In spite of the fact that it seems like we sound a lot like our own moms when we get really worked up about that good advice that is being ignored for the millionth time....!

Thanks, moms, grandmoms, step-moms, foster moms, neighbor's moms for giving us the good advice that we'd need to pass on.

Now, eat your vegetables! And be careful with those fireworks! You could put your eye out with those things!