Tuesday 26 July 2011

Listography - 5 things you learnt from your parents

I have once again sadly neglected my poor blog due to work commitments over the last few weeks, but I am back now and hope to catch up and keep up with it. This weeks listography from Kate over at KateTakes5, is 5 things you have learnt from your parents, which I really like. I must say my mum and dad have taught me loads and made me the grounded person I hope I am today, so I have alot to thank them for. My top 5 things I hope I have learnt well and hope I will instill in my own children are as follows:

Your family is important, we may not like each other all the time, and may have our gripes with each other, but at the end of the day we will always be there for each other no matter what. I know and always have done that I can tell Mum, Dad and/or my brother anything and they will not judge me and will do everything they can to help me sort a problem out. I want my boys growing up with this attitude, and if they feel they can't come to me or their dad, then I would like to think they have each other. My brother and I often confide in each other and we both know that if we feel it is important enough to keep mum and dad in the loop, then we will do the honours and give them a dumbed down version of events to save each other having to do it personally. We also know we can trust each other.

A hug solves everything or at least goes some of the way to making it feel better. I suppose that last one should be a problem shared is a problem halved (is that the right expression?). Its true though as a family we have always sat down to an evening meal together and this was the time we all talked about our day and any problems we may of had, and what we could do about them. I grew up in a very open family and was taught to talk about things and not bottle things up.

Always look on the bright side of life (in the words of the fantastic Monty Python). My mum is not really the glass half full type person, rather the glass half empty and it does my head in. I must take after my Dad on that one. He always sees the best in a situation and makes the best out of it and I am like that too. From my mum I have learnt it does you no good to be negative about things and waste alot of time and energy on it.

My mum isn't the best listener (bless her she is getting a bit of a beating here - I should say at this point she is a fabulous woman who I love dearly and I would class as my best friend). Always listen to others. Now my memory is shocking, I am sure when they cut me open and removed the boys, they reached a little too high and also managed to remove my short term memory at the same time. But I compensate, I am aware of this so I make notes, physical notes, or put things in my phone to beep at me. My mum though, denies all knowledge of conversations we know we had with her, and its simply because she isn't listening.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Money is not everything, yes it is nice but mum and dad taught both myself and my brother that you don;t need the newest, shiniest, most expensive gadget to be happy. We didn't have much money growing up, we were taught to save for things, taught to respect our toys and books, and taught that you could still be very happy without the best in life. My husband on the other hand grew up in a family where materialistic goods were the answer to everything, and he has that attitude now. He always needs the latest, most expensive thing, and it does my head in and is the one thing we constantly argue over. Recently he has come to believe me though as I am sad to say my boys dont respect things and t'husband was really angry one day when Little Man broke something and simply put it in the bin and said oh well we can buy another one, there is a better one out now. T'husband thought this was a disgusting attitude and didn't speak to me for 2 days when I pointed out that it was him that had instilled those thoughts into our boys. He eventually conceded and has agreed they get far too much and has agreed to say no and go with my view that they save for things otherwise it is Christmas and birthdays only. Already they are showing more respect and also playing more with the toys they have.

Take part and let us know what you parents taught you.

7 comments:

Rebecca English said...

It's hard to get children to respect their belongings when they get so much these days. I try hard not to spoil them and only buy a few good quality presents for their birthday and anniversay but everyone else buys them loads of things. We don't have space for it all and it's so wasteful when they don't play with it. You can't say anything though because it seems really ungrateful.

Domesblissity said...

Hi Rambling Pages. You're right. It's always so hard to keep treating people nice when they're awful to you. It's a hard one to teach to our kids too. Everything within reason I guess.

Anne @ Domesblissity

Domesblissity said...

Hi Rambling Pages. I appreciate your comment on choosing the right school for your child. You know, I was there in my daughter's class room this afternoon and I saw how happy she was, how nice the teacher was, how nice the other children were to me, my son and my daughter. If not for these couple episodes of bullying, I would say the school was perfect. So far, so good this term. Even the little girl who did the bullying came up and said how nice my daughter's work was. I really don't think she maliciously bullied but if she keeps it up she can certainly learn what power that bullying can give her. All the very best for your kids in their new school and thanks again. I appreciate everyone's comments. It's so nice you've taken the time out to comment.

Anne xx

Kate said...

Totally get the last one - it's a hard one to get the balance right for though. Thanks for joining in . x

White Lily Mummy said...

Hi hun, your last comment is so true. I grew up in a household where I could have pretty much what I wanted when I wanted (this was my parents way of compensating for them always working, and not always being around). So christmas and birthdays were not really that special. I DO NOT want this to be the case for Amelia. I want her to realise that money doesn't grow on trees. I look forward to reading more of your stories. xx

The Rambling Pages said...

Totally get the last one - it's a hard one to get the balance right for though. Thanks for joining in . x

The Rambling Pages said...

Hi Rambling Pages. You're right. It's always so hard to keep treating people nice when they're awful to you. It's a hard one to teach to our kids too. Everything within reason I guess.

Anne @ Domesblissity