If I knew then what I know now.

Although this blog is supposed to be focused on products, I’m taking a moment away from that to discuss a subject that is important to me. As a parent, I often look at my own life and struggles and promise myself that I will teach my children differently from my own parents so that they don’t have to learn from scratch as I did.

Think about it. If you could save your children from certain experiences, then why would you not help them out? This is not to say that you enable them and do things for them that they should do for themselves. Nor is this about taking away from their own learning experiences. No. This is about informing them of things that would make their life easier. Trust me, your children will have their own life struggles and challenges, it’s inevitable, but why not take away those unnecessary issues that all too often cause problems to most people.

Ok, so here are some things that I learned along the way and would warn my children about:

Finances:

• Start a savings account and emergency fund the moment you start working.
• Start thinking about your retirement the moment you start working.
• Start saving for you or your future spouse who may want to stay home with the children. If you decide you don’t want that when the time comes, fine, you have some extra money to put toward savings.
• Don’t get a credit card. If you cannot pay for it in cash, you don’t need it.

Relationships:

• Don’t offer to do it all in a relationship. It will grow old real quick. Share chores. Unless you get to stay home. But if you both work full time, share the burdens at home also.
• Don’t be manipulated by the words, “I love you.” Only in marriage can they be considered genuine. 
• Don’t say “I love you,” loosely.
• In marriage, love comes after the honeymoon stage; when the euphoria has worn off and the snoring and pregnancy weight have kicked in.

Career:

• When you complete your studies, whether it’s high school or college, find a job that is associated to your future career. It doesn’t matter the level you pursue even if you cannot get the exact position you want and you need a job. What’s wrong with being a receptionist at a law firm if you want to be in law? What’s wrong with being a waitress if you want to be a chef or own a restaurant? It doesn’t matter what the position is as long as it eventually leads you to your ultimate goal and provides much needed experience in the interim.

I will continue to add to this list. Life is too short. Why not save your children the aggravation. Why put them through the same stresses you endured? Why not move forward and give them a chance to have a better life than you? Isn’t that the least we could do? Don’t you wish you had been given that same consideration?

So, what’s your advice? What would you tell your children that would save them a whole lot of unnecessary stress?

This entry was posted on 26. May 2009 at 05:17 and is filed under MamaShares. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.