Life lessons you’ve taught your kids or been taught that have stuck with you.

[Rupertgrintismyguiltypleasure]

My dd is 9 and I’ve recently given the 3 life mantras I got told as a kid. She’s starting to understand a bit more of the world now so I thought it was time.

1. Never throw the first punch but always throw the last.
2. Don’t judge people based on thier race, sex, looks.... only on thier personality. (To elaborate basically decide if they are a dick, not just hate them because of how they look) that’s not how I roll so my kids won’t be judging people that way either.
3. If you ever bully someone I will personally make you regret it.

A few others I’ve learnt over the years.
Always treat people how you want to be treated
Remember when you point your finger there are always 3 pointing back at you.
Forget the mistake but remember the lesson
Be curious, not judgmental

One quote i actually learnt from ER and its stuck with me for years
‘When you’ve done everything you can, sometimes even more than you thought you could, you’ve got to walk away knowing you’ve fought the good fight’

What are some life lessons you live by?

Embarrassingly, it was my husband who taught me this valuable lesson. So I was at least 30!

He reminded me that if something happened to me, and I was a victim, but I chose to react badly, then I have made another person the victim (even if they are the one who caused me pain initially) and in doing so, their wrongdoing towards me is often over looked or overshadowed by mine towards them.

(There was a small falling out with my family, which was what led to the conversation).

To digest it it’s probably similar to the ‘you can choose how you react’ advice.

My advice for my children,
1- love thy neighbour. Basically as
Per the tale of the Good Samaritan.

2- what ever pickle you’ve got yourself in, or think you’ve got yourself in, talk to me. We’ll find the right way out of it as a family. Don’t suffer in silence. (Family history of suicide and mental health crises)

3- if you didn’t work hard for it, it wasn’t an achievement. And everyone’s personal achievements are different.

Life lesson:
Take everything you read on the Internet with a huge dollop of salt.

@HorribleDryHair

Following... My parents didn't do life advice unfortunately. Mine is "start saving now as I can't afford to help you with your deposit" and "don't buy a house with a man who hasn't contributed to the deposit"

These are way more useful than most of the others on here. I would far rather give practical advice than meaningless tropes like some on here. The world isn’t black and white so most of the ones on this thread will be wholly dependent on context and you are doing your children a disservice if you teach them some of this stuff.

Whatever you’re thinking of doing do it NOW, life is short (my mantra since my poor mum was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at just tuned 57. I’m almost 52 and it’s scary)

My dad is dead now. But he was more for doing than talking.

I phrase of his he did like to say often that will always make me smile when I think of it. And to be fair is pretty sounds advice:

"Either shit or get off the pot"

My dad always told me ‘when unsure, make an informed decision’. It’s so simple but it’s encouraged me to research, to find out, don’t just decide off of the minimal information when I’m unsure. This has saved me more times than I can think of.

From my Mother
Always earn your own money
Never divulge your financial circumstances to anyone
Never borrow nor lend money

I am crap with money but I want better for my kids. I teach my kids to save 40% of their earnings from their part time jobs. 20% - straight into long term savings (house/car) 10% - into medium term (holidays/festivals) 10% - short term (clothes) Oh and always transfer the pennies and odd pound every week into their savings - so they only have round numbers in the current account - it really adds up! they are building up good savings and have developed a good work ethic.
Our family motto is quite simple: Don’t Be A Knob

Mine is that choices always have consequences, and making that choice also means accepting what happens after, good or bad.

You can't control how others behave but you can control how you react.

Give everything 2 weeks. If it's not right by the end of the 2 weeks, it's not right.

Do not give your everything to work. Employers are not your friend.

Do not hit.

Do not take shit from anyone. You can be too forgiving.

Always take care of yourself and your possessions and treat other peoples things better than your own.

We have a responsibility to look after animals.

Do not put down as conspiracy what can be adequately explained as a cock up.

(So I rarely take offence, I just assume the other person didn’t think through the impact of their words or actions…I’m much happier as a result and there’s very little drama in my life).