When I Was Your Age

It's true:

The older you get the smarter your parents become.

I know this is true because I hear myself saying the same things to my kids my fuddy duddy parents said to me.

Things like:

Be careful
Just wait until (fill in the blank)
When I was a kid
It's my house and I can say what I want
If you don't work you don't eat.

I'm realizing that such comments weren't meant to criticize or demean me. They were intended to reach across the years of experience and hard knocks to perhaps help me avoid doing some pretty foolish things.

I wonder how the folks felt when I did something foolish anyway.

So as I share old fogey-isms with my own kids and anyone else within earshot,let me challenge you to listen to yourself as you speak to your loved ones. Make sure your words are meant to guide and not to demean.

In the stillness of your heart, utter a blessing to those who have invested into your life words of caution and experience.

Then maybe you'll appreciate your life, your job, your church, your family and friends and be thankful for them.

Be careful
Look both ways
Chew your food
Don't talk with your mouth full
Eat your vegetables

One day you'll thank me.