I heard it all throughout my childhood: Moms are always right. Listen to your mom. Mom knows best.
For years I had denied it, thinking that my mom thought she knew everything but didn’t, that she was always nagging me to do things I didn't actually need to do, so I would ignore her. But slowly, I began to realize that she was always right.
The lesson really hit me when I was in fifth grade, going on a school trip to NYC, and my mom kept insisting that I bring a snack with me because it was going to be a long day and a simple lunch would not suffice. I woke up on the morning of the trip to find that she had prepared several small snacks for me, giving me the option to take all or any of them, and I incessantly refused. I complained that the extra bag of pretzels or granola bar would only make my bag more heavy (talk about being a drama queen) and it would be for no reason because I knew my bagel was going to fill me up. I honestly cannot even tell you why I was so keen on defying her. Fast forward to 5:00 leaving the city, when my stomach was rumbling. That bagel I had at 12:00 was not nearly enough to satisfy me for such a long day. I had never regretted anything more than my refusal to bring a single snack with me. Looking around the bus as we stood in traffic, I found that every other person in my class was munching on something—clearly they had listened to their moms. I scrambled checking around my bag to see if by some miracle there was any food in there. Low and behold, my mother had ignored my refusals and snuck a granola bar into my bag when I wasn’t looking.
When I came home that day, I confessed what had happened to my family at dinner. My sister said to me, “You see? Moms know everything. You should always listen to mom.” This was when I fully embraced the lesson of my mother’s indisputable ability to know it all. Ever since, this message has only been confirmed to me time and time again. I learned it the hard way, but came to accept it, and have never refused my mother’s wisdom again. If I dare try, she reminds me of the incident from my fifth grade trip and I immediately shut myself up.
I think there must be something about raising kids that turns something on in your brain to make you some sort of magical human being who knows everything about life. Whether she’s telling me to bring a jacket, go to sleep early, take something with me when leaving the house, bring a snack (clearly), be patient, or any words of advice, this woman is omniscient.
A lot of kids deny the fact that their mothers have all the knowledge in the world, but it’s true. Moms have more wisdom than anyone else. They know it all. You can learn it the hard way like me, or you can just accept it, but either way, their brains are hard-wired to know the answer to absolutely everything. Lesson learned: don’t ever argue with mom—she knows best.
