my mama done tol' me

actually my mum always told me off lol

what about yours...was/is she an encourager?

If she was a discourager..ie. always told you stuff you CAN'T do, did that make you want to rebel and do it anyway?
Or do you see criticism or warning as signs she loves you and wants to protect you, possibly from making the same mistakes she did
Do you feel your mum smothers you or ties you with apron strings? People tend to mock 'mama's boys' but actually sons do tend to get preferential treatment over daughters in many families.

There are songs about mothers giving (unwanted) advice to their daughters like You cant hurry love, you just have to wait
Or A man is a two-face, a worrisome thing who'll leave you to sing the blues in the night

Probably sung by mums who are repenting at leisure!

Jesus famously did not always do exactly what his mum wanted. And like many Jewish mothers she probably wanted him to settle down and get married and live a long life!


Dad jokes will be a separate thread.

nobody is willing to admit them ok

well here a few common nags I heard from mine - maybe yours are different

'take a cardigan you'll get a cold'

'you cant do that you're too young'

'dont sleep with any boys'

'dont go to church'

'stay home and look after the house'

hmm nobody, ok. every one must have perfect christian mothers then...?

That never give advice?

My mama was a Southern Baptist Preacher's Daughter. She was wild and crazy and a lot of fun. She didn't force me to go to church, but I had to be out of the house on Sundays, so she could clean. She was strict. But she taught me a lot. Mostly she taught me that I can do anything I set my mind on, as long as I am willing to work harder than anyone else at it. She worked in trailer factories, and is the reason I can build things, am not afraid to get my hands dirty and can out work many men. She was tough as nails and did with her nails polished.

sounds like quite the matriarch

My mum is not the typical tiger mother but she saw all of us 4 siblings through to university and paid for us all to go there. She would work hard and save from her cleaning job and pay for us so we wouldnt have to get any student loans.

We all graduated and she was so proud of us, She had never got past primary school, she had to drop out and work to support her 8 siblings as she was the oldest. Shes like the mother of everyone in her family.

My Mom didn't graduate either, because she couldn't afford the basics for her classes. That was her biggest regret in life, she once said. She was determined that my brothers and I had a better life than she did, and to her that began with having everything we needed to graduate high school.

My mom is very good about biting her tongue and only giving advice when asked. She's the peacemaker in our family. Gave me room to learn from my mistakes without rubbing them in but was also always there to talk without judgement. She wasn't the "perfect Christian mom", either.

My (Christian) step-mom always took an interest in spending time with me. She taught me to bake and sew and stayed up late to play board games and encouraged me when I thought I was too fat and ugly to ever get find a godly man and get married. She was by no means perfect, as none of us are, but I knew she loved me.

It was my (Christian) dad who was the discourager/nitpicker. He hated it when I wore jeans, complained if I got my hair cut, and hated it if I ever showed myself to be more intelligent than he was.

As a mother myself, I often find myself telling my kids to remember their coats or telling them "you're too young for xyz" but it's said in love to train or protect and not to discourage or "control" them.

It was my mum who cut my hair short (I never liked it long) and if I did get nits she was the one who had to get the nit shampoo out.
But she would say if my shorts were too short! (illogical...shorts are meant to be short, otherwise they would be called longs)

She obviously liked long shorts

In terms of coats and being to young, I would tell my children at school to not forget their coats/jumpers/jackets and leave them behind in the library, because if they did that and it didnt have their names on them, I would have to dump them in the rubbish as thats where the office ladies sent them if they didnt find their owners. And the jumpers were expensive! I had a box just for lost hats. They were always forgetting them. I just wore my hat all the time, even inside. lol

If someone was too young for something I would just tell them they could do it next year, or wait till they a bit older. I wouldnt tell them they could never do it. Just not right now. They had to learn to take turns and let others go first or ahead, which is hard for a child to learn. Waiting is not easy!

Children tend to take things literally or at face value they dont always understand the deeper meaning behind warnings and admonitions. You have to sometimes spell out the consequences eg. if you sleep with a boy, you might get pregnant and have a baby. Then you'll have to look after it yourself cos the boy will run away.

Or if you run inside and fall and hurt yourself, we will have to take you to hospital cos we are not trained nurses.

Im thinking if I became a mother myself whether I would just do and say all the things my mum said
She probably said them because she was tired of looking after me...sigh.

Yet she never wanted me to leave her either

?!