Parents have a lot of wisdom in store – and they don’t always stick to the truth exactly when they say it. Otherwise, a lot of people would have to have square eyes because they stared at screens for too long. We have not yet met a child who has grown a rubber tree out of his stomach because he has swallowed too much chewing gum.
But not only have parents resorted to the same myths for generations to discourage their children from doing something they find harmful or doing something beneficial to their health — like eating spinach to get strong like Popeye.
Parents also say the same mantra-like sentences over and over again to give comfort and to convey serenity. Not only in childhood, but also long after their children have grown up. There is usually a lot of truth in these statements handed down from parents to parents. Here are some examples:
“Listen to your gut feeling.”
Researchers confirm that your own intuition is usually a good guide. It stands for the ability of the brain to quickly process all of our accumulated life experience and new information and to draw the right conclusions from it. According to urbia.de, even more aspects are taken into account than when we consciously think about it. “That’s quite normal.”
“This is completely normal.”
Logically, anyone who becomes a mother or father for the first time cannot draw on a wealth of experience. Everything is new, concrete comparisons are missing. But there are all the more ideas about how the offspring should develop.
If the reality deviates from the idea, this can be unsettling. If your own parents or other people who have already raised children then say: “That’s quite normal”, that is not only correct in many cases, but also very reassuring.
“You don’t always have to be the best.”
To stay with the phrases: Basically, we know “Nobody is perfect”. And yet we often secretly strive for nothing less than absolute perfection.
But making mistakes is part of life – whether as a child, teenager or as a parent. However, it is quite unlikely that a child will suffer any major damage as a result of a minor educational faux pas.
And above all, parents can sometimes be irritable, impatient and overwhelmed. The only important thing for the development of the children and their own psyche is that this does not become a permanent condition. So if someone says to you: “You don’t have to be the best, you’re good enough”, then that’s the way it is.
“Take a deep breath first.”
It doesn’t matter whether you’re angry or scared: taking a deep breath helps to clear your head again and to react more distantly to what has happened. But even if we are not in a crisis situation, conscious breathing ensures more serenity in everyday life and strengthens our well-being.
In addition, breathing exercises are not just for adults. Children can also learn to deal better with stress and control their emotions through breathing exercises.”
“You can not have everything.”
Unfortunately true. At the latest when you have children of your own, you realize that. The statement refers less to material things and more to the fact that you simply cannot divide yourself into two, three or four parts.
And that would often be necessary if you want to spend as much time as possible with the children, at the same time want to step on the gas in your professional life and don’t want to miss out on cozy evenings with friends or sufficient me-time.
