The Money Mom: Mother’s Day Memories
As we look forward to Mother’s Day this coming weekend, I thought it was only fitting for my team to share some of the best advice given to them by their mothers. I hope you enjoy – and please, share your own mother’s advice in the comments! We’d love to read it.
Jean
When my son was one or two, I had trouble getting him to eat a balanced diet. Some days all he wanted was French toast. Somedays apple sauce. Cheese was a food group. And veggies — though he didn’t completely hate them (especially “trees” as we called broccoli) — were few and far between.
I stressed out — as any new mother would. And so I called my own mother and this is what she had to say: When it comes to food, individual meals don’t matter, whole days don’t matter, if he gets what he needs over the course of a week, you’re doing just fine.
It’s become my metaphor for life. Balance is elusive. There are some days I am good at work. There are others I am good at home. If I get it all in over a week, I am doing just fine.
Arielle
I know this may be one of my only chances to stray off the topic of money on this blog, but I’m going to pass on the opportunity. Because as fitting as it is, some of the best advice I ever got from my mother was that you don’t spend more than you have. And what we had was enough to buy everything we needed, just not everything I wanted. Once, when I was complaining about how many presents were under a friend’s family tree every Christmas (or maybe it was about how many fruit roll-ups and Swiss cake rolls were in her family’s pantry – another area where, as a kid, I thought my family was sorely lacking) my mom sat me down and explained that other families may have more “things,” but we didn’t have any debt. We bought what we could afford, and no more.
Now, when I get that familiar pang over someone’s apartment (with multiple counters and cabinets – my dream, and a rarity in New York City) or their frequent vacations, I remember that I don’t know the first thing about their financial situation. But I know about mine, and that I’ve followed in my mother’s footsteps.
Kelly
My mom once told me not to expect to get everything right the first time you try it. The earliest occasion I remember her saying this was during my first attempt at making Sunday morning pancakes on my own, at the ripe old age of eight. It was delivered to me mid-meltdown — when I realized I had forgotten to add the eggs — but as I’ve grown up, I’ve realized that life is full of moments a lot like that one. From first cars to first boyfriends to the first time I tried plucking my eyebrows — I’ve done things right, and done things wrong. But in the end, I’ve done things differently when they didn’t turn out the way I had hoped. I am happy that, despite those failures, I’ve learned to improve upon and learn from my mistakes so things go right the second (third, and fourth) time. And while there are definitely some bruised egos and terrible photos that have followed me along the way, I never again forgot to add the eggs. So thank you, mom, for encouraging me to mess up — but to also always try again.
