Thursday, November 10, 2011

A Mother's Wisdom Is A Precious Thing*

After work tonight, I pull into the driveway to pick up Daughter-Only, who wants to go to the store for an emergency beverage stock-up. We are bereft of beverages here, unless you count water from the tap or fruit juice from the fridge, which Daughter-Only most certainly does not.

In any case, my job is only 5 minutes from my home, not enough time for my van's antique heating system to begin blowing anything approaching hot air and the temperature has dropped significantly since I went into work so I am dressed inadequately and shivering uncontrollably when Daughter-Only joins me in the van, also dressed inadequately and already beginning to shiver uncontrollably as well.

She immediately turns the blower up as high it will go. I say, "It's only going to blow cold air harder if you do that."

She says, "If I turn it up, it will get hotter faster."

"Uh, I don't think it really works that way."

She loudly mock-whines, "YES! IT DOES!"

I say, "Daughter-Only, saying something louder does not make it any more true."

I think there are lots of people in this world who could really stand to learn that lesson, but we'll talk about teenage girls and conservative talk radio hosts another time.

*Based on Daughter-Only's logic, that should read: A MOTHER'S WISDOM IS A PRECIOUS THING

4 comments:

  1. I have to remember that saying it louder doesn't make it true. Nice comparison to the heater in the car.

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  2. Thanks--saying it louder is a time-honored (though not particularly effective) technique around here.

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  3. It'd be great if your daughter turned out to be right. But you gave her great advice, "Louder doesn't make it true." I wrote a list about the best bits of wisdom I gleaned from my own Mom...
    http://www.mythirtysense.com/2011/10/18/thirty-things-my-mother’s-taught-me/

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  4. Thanks for visiting. Not sure if you'll be stopping back. I checked out your post. Especially enjoyed 3,4,5, and 21. Words to live by for sure.

    (I was unable to comment there for some reason. The comment form was visible, but the button to actually submit the comment was missing.)

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