What We Learn From Our Aging Parents

Without a doubt, our parents tried their best to teach us (in their own way) important values to take with us through life. In some cases, some of them might have fallen on deaf ears, and it might take making a mistake to fully understand the lessons that they were trying to teach us and how important they were. However, at one point, it becomes less about what they can teach us and more about what we can learn from them, by observing, by analyzing, and by listening.

While it’s easy to sometimes write off what they are trying to tell us by thinking that they are old clichés (such as ‘action speaks louder than words’ or ‘always say please and thank you’), the reason those can be considered clichés is not because they are banal but because they are valuable lessons that stood the test of time. Next time your parents try to give you a piece of advice and you might want to ignore it, try to analyze it a bit more and you might find out that there’s more to a saying that what you might hear on the surface.

In some cases, there might be some lessons that we learned without actually realizing that we did.

Respecting our elders is one of them. When you’re trying to do the best for your parents, either by getting them the Perfect Sleep Chair or by simply trying to show manners around them, while you might not be aware of it, that’s your way of respecting your elders. That has been a lesson that we’ve been taught ever since we were little, and it did stick with us. By showing our parents the proper respect, we’ll be able to carry that lesson with us when moving out into the world as well.

Being honest is another being lesson that we can take away from our aging parents. While brutal honesty can have its unpleasant side, there is great power in it. Try to remember a time when your parents were telling you something is not right and that made you feel uncomfortable. Chances are that their honesty helped you in the long run and you’re more appreciative of it now, even though you might not have liked it at the time. Honesty is something that we can always carry with us and it will help us out though, regardless of how awkward it might be at first.

Taking your time is a lesson that might seem odd, given the times we live in. It’s easier to multitask nowadays, and there’s always the chance of sensory overload. By simply observing our parents, it’s easy to see the value in patience and taking our time. We can write that off by simply saying that it’s just them being old, but patience is not a flaw that comes with age, it’s a virtue that should be learned. Whether we’re talking about delayed gratification or just taking our time to consider the pros, cons and the responsibility of undertaking a certain plan, patience should always play a role.

Even if we take into considerations their mistakes, those can be valuable lessons as well. Seeing where they fell short and trying to improve ourselves in order to not make the same mistakes is an important part of life too. No one is perfect, and chances are your parents made mistakes as well. They made it through their mistakes and their failures and got to the other end okay. We are going to make mistakes of our own. By learning where our parents didn’t succeed and by being persistent, we can make sure that we don’t make the same mistakes.Our parents, and even older people in general, have plenty of wisdom to impart. Try thinking about the things that you’ve been through in your life and how they affected you – now simply multiply that and realize the life experience that our elders have. Whether from their mistakes or their successes, there is a lot there to learn. By simply listening and paying attention we can understand that our parents went through a lot and lived through ups and downs. We can learn a lot from that and take those lessons with us for the rest of our lives.