Admit it! Your parents were right after all…
Parents love dishing out advice to their children and when younger you probably just rolled your eyes most of the time. But now you have kids yourself you realise (ahem), turns out they were right after all. Here’s some of the best advice our parents gave us.
Thrifty is nifty
“Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves” as the saying goes. This doesn’t mean a lot though when you still live with your parents and don’t have to pay for things like electricity, food and water. Fast forward to running your own household, with the added pressure of the now insane cost of living in most parts of Australia, and suddenly questioning that extra coffee a day seems like a wise thing to do!
Saving for a rainy day takes on a whole new meaning when you realise not only do you need to make ends meet, but it’s important to have some back up in the bank for holidays and unforeseen expenses – toddler breaking the TV perhaps?
Good manners go a long way
Pardon, not what! … Say please and thank you! … Don’t be rude!
Boring and annoying when you’re a kid, right? But now you’re older you can see just how having good manners gets you pretty far in life. Polite people tend to have more friends, better family and work relationships, more opportunities presented to them, and are generally more pleasant to be around. So don’t be surprised if you now find yourself desperate not to be the mum on the block raising a brat.
Don’t take unnecessary risks
Living hard and fast seems like a good idea when you’re young, but it’s not so great when you have a family. Partying hard, reckless driving and cliff jumping – nope, not a parenting game. The stakes are way too high. And you don’t want your children going down this path either because you want them to, you know, LIVE.
You don’t have to become a helicopter parent or anything, but it’s safe to say you’ll be making sure your little one doesn’t get the taste for crazy adventures and addictive substances – red cordial and whizz fizz will keep them up ALL night.
Get insured
When you’re a young adult you couldn’t care less about insurance – you’d rather spend your hard-earned money at the pub because you’re invincible, right? It may not be until you have children of your own that this really hits home because only then do you realise that insurance is the only way to make sure you and your family will be looked after financially if something bad happens (like illness, death or inability to work).
Life Insurance and Income Protection Insurance are just two of the products offered by Real Insurance which are both easy to set up and affordable. You can apply over the phone without any tests, for an amount that fits your budget. They also offer cover for many other areas such as car, home, funeral, pet and even bike insurance.
Eat your greens
Brussels sprouts, broccoli, beans – yuck! Pass the cheezels instead!
The fact that vegetables actually taste good and help you feel better doesn’t really hit home until you’re older. And there’s the added bonus that too many vegetables will never turn your toddler into a raving lunatic, the way sugar can.
Go to bed early
They definitely knew what they were talking about with this one! Never has the importance of sleep been realised more than a parent of a baby or toddler. It becomes the centre of your life as each day is influenced directly by how much shut-eye you managed to get the night before, and how much energy you have for dealing with life’s daily dramas. Decent sleep also helps prevent illness and weight gain, gives you a clear head and even promotes good skin (it’s not called beauty sleep for nothing!). And when it comes to kids and sleep? Well, I think we can all agree there was a good reason our parents sent us to bed early – they’re nightmares without enough of it!
What good advice did your parents give you?
(This is a sponsored post for Real Insurance. Please consider the PDS available at Real Insurance. Products issued by Hannover Life Re of Australasia Ltd ABN 37 062 395 484.)
