Dear teenager,

I’m sure you think you have it all figured out. I’m sure you feel your parents are complete idiots and you are certain “doing it your way” will be much better than following any advice your mom can give you, but trust me when I say to you that even today, at age 44, I get reminded daily that my mother knew best.

And now that I am a mother as well, I get bragging rights to say that I too, know best.

Your mom is the one who cleaned your bum when you were soiled, wiped your nose when it was runny and reminded you to brush your teeth every night. She wiped your tears, kissed your boo-boos and explained the ways of the world to you.

She was your first educator and has been there to witness all your major milestones: your first words, your first steps, your first day at school, your first heartbreak, your first car… She celebrated with you the joyful occasions and picked up the pieces when you were let down. She is connected to you to a level that you will never understand. Not until you have your own kids, at least.

I know it is hard to be in your shoes: I’ve been there! You have your entire future ahead of you and can’t wait to take a huge bite out of life! You want to figure it all out by yourself and you don’t want anybody meddling in your affairs. You’ll take selective advice from friends, cause THEY are wise, you know? And If you make it, you will be able to say that you did it on your own–as if getting help from your parents would in any way take away from your accomplishments! You don’t quite get that yet, and that’s okay.

But know this. There will come a time when you will look back and wish you would have listened to what your mother had to say. There will come a time when you will have made a totally avoidable mistake and will think to yourself “Man! Man mother WAS right!” You will soon discover that your parents are not as stupid as you initially thought, in fact, they’re not stupid at all! They speak from experience, experience that you don’t have, and they want to avoid you a whole bunch of unnecessary turmoil. They don’t nag to annoy you; they nag because they love you, wholeheartedly.

There will come a time when you will wish you had made the effort to learn more about your mother’s life, where she came from, how she knew what she knew. There will be days when things will happen and you will wish you could pick up the phone and tell her about your day, ask her for advice, but by then, it could be too late.

So instead of living a life of regrets, why don’t you make sure you make this mother’s day the best mother’s day she’s had yet! And no, she doesn’t want things! She only wants YOU!

“My mother said to me, ‘If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope.’ Instead, I was a painter, and became Picasso.” -Pablo Picasso