Weekend assignment

Weekend Assignment #54: Tell us all a single piece of wisdom you've learned from personal life experience. It can be a small thing, it can be a big thing, a simple tip or trick or the most important thing you've ever learned from life. But whatever it is, you should be able to state it in one sentence. That way people will remember it easier.

Extra Credit: Tell us: Would you have listened to your own bit of advice as a teenager? Be honest, now.

   I haven't participated in John's Weekend assignment very regularly over the last several weeks. Not that I had any objection to the assignments themselves, perish the thought. I have simply not been in an overly creative frame of mind recently. This week's directive, however, prompted me to jump to my keyboard and bang away like a statistically improbable monkey. You see, I very clearly remember the most valuable piece of advice I ever received.
   Eleven years ago, I was a very new father. As is, I'm sure, not uncommon, I was experiencing a considerable amount of trepidation at the prospect of raising a child. I had confided in a co-worker, who had two children of his own, some of my reservations about handling a squirming and squalling little bundle of joy, when he hit me with a basic truism.

   "Don't worry," he said. "They bounce."

   At first, it seemed like a rather flippant thing to say, but underneath, there was wisdom in the words. I took them to heart, and have always attempted to parent with a mind to the underlying adaptability of children. Yes, they don't like to have their routines disrupted, and no you shouldn't do it too often, but if you do, they'll adapt remarkably quickly to whatever new routine you establish. And, if all you do is worry about it, they'll pick up on that, too.
   A couple of years later, I received a second, good piece of advice. My parents were visiting for dinner. Matthew came up to me and asked if he could have...something. I don't even remember what it was. I don't know if I even paid any attention to what it was at the time. I simply said, "no."
   My Mother simply said, "why not?"
  I thought about it for a moment, and couldn't think of any good reason. So I gave him...whatever it was. From that time forward, when he has asked me for something, I have always tried to think about it before I answered. Sometimes, the answer was still no. But, if it was, there was a reason.
   Would I have listened to any of that advice as a teen? Parenting advice? As a teen? Are you nuts?