Mums beware, the truth can last a lifetime
EXPERTS say if you’re wondering if your bum looks big in that don’t waste time asking your other half, go straight to the one person who will tell it like it is: your mum.
It’s vital, though, to issue mums with a word of warning.
“Be careful when you dole out the criticism.”
Asked decades later about their mothers’ shoot-from-the-hip, plain-speaking, no-holds-barred criticism fifty-something adults are still smarting at the maternal assessment of their pigeon toes, knobbly knees, tree trunk legs, interesting features only a mother could love and hair so like a bristle brush they might as well be turned upside down and used as a broom.
One lady has kept her skirts ankle length ever since her mum branded her calves bulging and unsightly.
A grandad recalled his mother saying: “You look just like your dad but at least you’re healthy.”
Mothers beware – lavishing lashings of unearned praise on our children is dangerous but damning them with faint praise can be even more damaging.