7 x things we learn from our mothers

Last week I wrote an article about what we have learned from our fathers. In it, I mentioned that fathers seem to always know some things better, better than, for example, our mothers. But is this the case the other way around as well? Absolutely. There are indeed plenty of things that I personally prefer to discuss with my mother rather than my father. A mother always seems to have the solution for everything; after all, she brought you into the world and often knows you better than you think. That’s why today I’m sharing seven points that we have learned from our mothers, and in this case especially what daughters learn from their mothers.

1. Taking care of yourself is important
‘Are you getting enough sleep?’, ‘Are you eating well?’, ‘Aren’t you planning too much in a week?’ I still get these kinds of questions from my mother, even though I haven’t lived at home for years. Of course, we sometimes find these questions annoying, but often those mothers are right, and we are indeed not getting enough sleep or our schedule is overloaded. In the end, we pick up this advice consciously or unconsciously, but we prefer to figure it out ourselves first before we listen.

2. What to do when you are sick
Mothers will (thankfully) never completely stop taking care of us. But when they are not around to do that, we now know perfectly well what we can do ourselves when we are sick, for example. Which medicines we need to buy, what we should and shouldn’t eat when we feel nauseous, all things we learn from our mothers. The times when a hot water bottle is brought to your room and a grated apple with cinnamon, unfortunately, disappear as soon as you leave home. Too bad, really.

3. Makeup and all other women’s tricks
Well, as a little girl, you naturally always snooped around in your mother’s bathroom, where you found the most beautiful products. Red lipstick, perfume, nail polish; all fun tricks that you were allowed to try out. We also learned from our mothers how to apply them; after all, we didn’t have extensive YouTube tutorials yet. How do you apply mascara? And how do you take it off in the evening? Dabbing the inside of your mouth after applying lipstick, spraying perfume on your neck and wrists: all things we learned from our mothers.

4. Talking about feelings
Who do we prefer to run to when our heart is broken? Exactly: to our mothers. When we have a problem – that feels like the end of the world – mothers always know how to reassure us. Learning to deal with feelings and especially talking about them is something very beautiful that we receive from our mothers. They simply always know what we should do and can put things into perspective better than anyone else. ‘Everything will be alright’ is something we can never hear often enough.

5. You are beautiful just the way you are
How often do mothers tell us how smart and beautiful we are? They are our biggest fans, and that boost for our self-confidence is something we can use from time to time. Mothers teach us that it is important to be proud of ourselves and that we are just right as we are. Women support women. Your sense of self-worth? You learn that from your mother.

6. A good sense of humor
Of course, you can also laugh, joke, and have fun with your father; I’ll just call this ‘male humor’ for convenience, but mothers teach you a different form of humor. They can slyly tease you without you realizing it at first. A good sense of cynicism and sarcasm, that I learned from my mother.

7. A mother’s heart
Your mother’s arms, that’s where you want to be able to go forever, right? The mother’s heart and the unconditional love that comes with it is what we receive from our mothers. Caring for others, a listening ear, and the feeling of safety: we all receive that without anything being expected in return. In short: mothers are just very special beings. Hopefully, we can pass on their magical gifts one day.