Best And Worst Advice From Mom & Dad

I am re-blogging with the OK from Maria so I am not plagiarizing. I just wanted to share her blog with all of my readers because I think it is funny and bright. I also think that it will bring to mind all the advice handed down from parents to children, which many of us have played both the parent and child at different stages in our lives. So read and enjoy.

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talesfromahungrylife posted: "by Maria Schulz Since Father’s Day just passed, I noticed a lot of articles about the great advice that Dads share with their children. One article offered a sampling of the best advice from Dad and another one discussed all the ways that Dad’s advice " Respond to this post by replying above this line New post on Tales From A Hungry Life Best and Worst Advice From Mom & Dad by talesfromahungrylife by Maria Schulz Since Father’s Day just passed, I noticed a lot of articles about the great advice that Dads share with their children. One article offered a sampling of the best advice from Dad and another one discussed all the ways that Dad’s advice inspires kids to do their best. Of course, Moms are also well known for their sage advice. So what was some of the best advice I ever got from my Dad or my Mom? How do you spell that? When my brothers and I wanted to do something that was forbidden but that our friends were allowed to do, my father would say: “What’s their name?” We would reply with their name. “So tell me,” my father would say, “how do you spell their last name?” We would spell their last names. “How do you spell your last name?” We’d spell our last name. “Your family name is spelled differently than their family name. We don’t do things like those people do. Sorry if you don’t like it. Just remember who you are.” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When someone was mean to me, my mother told me: “Don’t feel bad. They obviously aren’t smart enough to treat you the way you deserve.” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you had the awful, terrible, bad luck to get caught in a lie, my father said: “Don’t lie to me again. Take your lumps. Lie again and you’ll be in worse trouble.” Take your lumps My mother used to tell my twin brother and me to never, ever, EVER pick up a hitchhiker when we were old enough to drive. So imagine our horror when she pulled over to the side of the road and picked one up! The kid got in the car and said, “Oh hi Mrs. Lagalante.” And then my mother browbeat this kid for the entire ride, telling him how he could’ve been killed and that she was going to tell his mother. When he got out, we started to yell at our Mom. “You said to never, ever, EVER pick up a hitchhiker!” And our mother looked at us and said, “Sometimes, you have to know when to break a Never, Ever, EVER rule.” ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When I asked if I could go to a party on my first ever date, my father gave me permission to go but put the fear of God in me by saying: “So where’s the party going to be held? Give me the address.” “Why?” I replied. “Oh, I might go out for a walk that night and stop by.” OH NO OH NO OH NO, I thought, but I tried to be cool. I replied, “Okay, I will get you the address.” I gave my father the address and went to the party. I spent the entire time not really paying attention to my date because I was so worried that my father would burst through the door like the prophet Elijah. Nothing will keep you on the straight and narrow quite like the prospect of your father showing up at a party with your friends. Let's party ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After hearing my parents get into a huge fight, I was sure that they would end up divorced, and six-year-old me would have to leave my brothers and go live in an orphanage. When my mom tucked me into bed that night and I told her my fears, she burst out laughing. “Aren’t you mad at Dad?” I asked. “Nah,” she replied. “Hate the sin, love the sinner.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The year I graduated from college, my father held impromptu interviews with me so I could keep from getting flustered on a real interview. I made a lot of mistakes, but when I was done, he told me: “It’s just a conversation with another person. Smile, answer the questions as honestly as you can, and make them laugh if possible. If they don’t like you, that’s their problem and you’re better off not working for them.” ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- While shopping for wedding dresses, my mother never lost her head. “Just pick out the best looking dress you can afford,” she said. “You’ll never wear it again, and your kids won’t want to wear it either.” Her mother and my mother have very different priorities When I was freaking out over the last minute details that I thought I had to get just right for my wedding, my father made me sit down on the couch, and told me: “Just remember. Your wedding day is supposed to be meaningful and fun, but in the end, it’s just a party that lasts a few hours. Focus your energy and attention on the marriage. That’s supposed to last forever.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As my mother descended into her Alzheimer’s haze, she would occasionally have very lucid moments when we would have long talks. One day, she said to me, “I know you’re worried that I’m suffering, but don’t. What I have isn’t like cancer; I’m not in pain, and nothing hurts. Oh, it bothers me that I can’t remember anything, but you have to remember that a few minutes, I won't remember that anyway.” Sort of like this. Here’s the worst advice they ever gave me: Dad: “So what if you’re allergic to red dye--go ahead and eat those cherry ices. Hives never killed anyone.” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mom: “Just smile and be pleasant to Sister Felicity. She’ll forget you’re there.” --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dad: “Run down that gigantic hill! You won’t get hurt.” ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mom: “You should tell your teachers exactly what you’re thinking.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dad: “It’ll be fun to share the basement with two homeless girls whose own parents disowned them. They can be like sisters to you!” ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mom: “Make sure you tell your father how much you enjoy his cooking. That way, he can do it every Sunday.” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recipe: Apple Turnovers There was nothing quite as amusing as the Sunday afternoon marathon that was known as my father’s day to cook. I wrote about this in my book, Tales From A Hungry Life: A Memoir with Recipes. Now available on amazon.com Amazon.com One of the less successful dishes he made was apple turnovers. I think he left them in the oven while he struggled to complete the entrée, and we ended up with apple burnovers. Try the recipe above and see if you will have better luck. You won't be sorry-- this classic treat is so delicious with a cup of coffee or tea. Delicious! So, what was the best advice your parents ever gave you? The worst? Do you like apple turnovers? Please leave a comment and let us all know. Thanks! talesfromahungrylife | June 18, 2014 at 6:48 am | Tags: best advice from dad, best advice from mom, humor, recipe, worst advice | Categories: Family, Food, food, family, fun, laughter, Humor, nostalgia, Teachers, Uncategorized | URL: http://wp.me/pSxAu-ou Comment See all comments Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Tales From A Hungry Life. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://talesfromahungrylife.wordpress.com/2014/06/18/best-and-worst-advice-from-mom-dad/

talesfromahungrylife posted: "by Maria Schulz Since Father’s Day just passed, I noticed a lot of articles about the great advice that Dads share with their children. One article offered a sampling of the best advice from Dad and another one discussed all the ways that Dad’s advice "

Some Thoughts On The Human Condition

Did you ever notice how certain times certain things occur and they are important yet at another moment in our lives the very same thing happens and there is no consequence related to it? The occurrence means nothing yet once the occurrence played a significant role in one's life, one's decision making.

I guess this very strange reaction to events, significant or insignificant, has a lot to do with the stages of our life we are living at the moment. After all a child pre-adolescent has a different idea as to what a relationship is and that changes through adolescence, through young adult hood through the maturing process of marriage, young through old age. 

So then the question arises if the act is the very same and the reaction is very different what causes the reaction to be so different?  Is it the maturation process which is greatly dependant on experiences and the culture the population is in?

I guess the act doesn't really change but the intention and the the very "doing" of the act changes the impact of a certain act or occurrence. An intimate experience can be be very deeply moving and spiritual but for different reasons. One may be only enjoying the sensations the intimacy brings while another is finding it an act of love which goes beyond just the sensual feelings.  A feast might be just the satisfaction of the tastes it brings to the senses as well as the aromas and presentation of the meal while others might view it as a celebration of family, life and love. The acts are the same, the reactions vastly different. This can be extended to thoughts expressed and thoughts censored never to be expressed. Always filtering the events but for different, various reasons perhaps because the events, the thoughts might be never be understood or it would be better left unsaid because then anything that might be followed will never have to be disclosed. 

I guess then whatever truth might be it is only in the eyes of the beholder. Perception is truth to the perceiver. How one might perceive their acts, their definitions of truth, their definitions of love, relationships, of any acts or occurrences might be quite different from how their partner in a relationship might see it, be they lovers, friends, sons or daughters or just passing acquaintances. The problem always arises when perceptions are so different as to cause a disruption in any relationship. This is why friendships dissolve, as do marriages and love affairs as well as relationships between family members as close as sons, daughters and parents.

              

Meaning of The "Third Wheel" And Why

ANY QUESTIONS????

Sometimes We Learn As We Age

Thinking back to when I was a child the world was quite different in my expectations and desires.  Most children are quite selfish because they are always being taken care of by loving parents and it seems the world revolves around them and it does I suppose. When I was hungry I was fed. When I needed clothes I was dressed. When I needed schooling I was sent to school to learn even though I really didn't want to go.
My beliefs were based on what I was told by my elders, by what I perceived to be happening all around me. The problem of being bullied was taken care of in my setting by fighting back and if that didn't work then an older sibling or parent would step in. To set the world right one had to fight back by any means possible.

The God I believed in was the one presented to me first by my family, then by my church. I really didn't like what was presented to me. God never laughed, He always was mad until you said you were sorry. I wanted a softer less demanding God. My Mom and Pop even though they placed restrictions on me were far better than the God I was being exposed to, they laughed a lot, and even if I was hit by my mom I'd be in her arms soon again because she loved me and I knew that.

As I grew it became obvious to me the strongest survived and the weakest perished. My experience in the Army only gave credence to that philosophy and I survived because I was bigger, stronger and smarter than my adversaries and I knew how to make friends with the right people. I was getting to know God a little better but I realize now that back then he was made in my image instead of me being made in His Image.

The more I aged the more it became clearer to me that the world didn't revolve around me but it revolved around all of us collectively. That what I do has ramifications that if not thought out my actions could result in disastrous outcomes that could change not only my life but the lives that I touch. This led to some actions on my part which were very difficult for me at the time but proved to be the only action that was right.

One time while coming back from a visit to my in-laws which I disliked to begin with since I was alone with five of my kids in the back seat of my station wagon, they were very young. For some reason a driver in another car took umbrage to my passing him and he chased me for about a half of mile finally cutting me off and getting out of his car, he was bigger than me, and he had a wife holding an infant in her arms yelling for him to come back into the car. I was assessing the situation. I couldn't take this big guy but I had a lug wrench under my driver's seat. I figured I'd wait till he came close and I would swing the door open driving him back and I would jump out of the car and bash his skull in. He came up to the car and he started to insult me in front of my kids making me very mad since my manhood was being challenged. The thought suddenly flashed through my mind that I could kill this guy or most certainly maim him over what? Over a stupid challenge to my macho feeling and I could go to jail and then my kids and his infant would have no father all because I had to feel like a man. So I let him call me a coward and he finally got back into his car calling me a "yellow belly coward". I never carried a lug wrench again. What I was afraid of, my kids losing respect for their father never happened, in fact they don't even remember the situation. Hopefully that guy learned from the experience as I did and had the great pleasure of watching his kids grow into fine human beings always having a father with them that didn't expose them to what could have been a life changing experience for them. Discretion is the better party of valor or something like that.

As I age I am learning that the real God that is out there is nothing what I thought him to be when I was a child, young adult and middle aged person. First thing is that for me knowing God is a slow process as He reveals himself oh so slowly to some of us. I have learned that being made in His image has to do with the spiritual, the ability to reason and to learn that true love is easy for those who want to give rather than take. And as funny as it seems my God while He created the universe and is certainly the center of everything really doesn't want everything revolving around Him (it does of course) because He is intimately concerned about all of His creation, animate and inanimate.  I have learned He has a helluva sense of humor. Peculiar as it seems He doesn't take Himself too seriously and wishes we would follow that. He takes all of us very seriously we should be seriously concerned about the world, environment, the people who live on the other side of the world, the animals that we abuse by simply ignoring the fact that He created them too AND if He loves them we should also. He is still revealing much of Himself to me and I guess until we meet face to face I shall never get the full impact of who He is. This much I know for sure, He exists, is real and wants all of us to love never hate, and believe that there is a much better place waiting for all of us, animals included.