Dean

With fond memories: Remembering the many lessons we learned from mom

Tina Dean DEA05004@BYUI.EDU moms know best

Mothers, we love you with all of our hearts.

Most of us don’t have to think too hard to remember in detail the many rules our mothers drilled into our heads when we were younger.

No shoes on the carpet! Eat your vegetables! What? You want to go out and play? Well, is your homework done? Is your room clean? Have you finished your chores? Fed the goldfish?

Karilyn Turner, a sophomore from Vancouver, Wash., was subject to rules many students can identify with.

“All of the children learned to play the piano, so before we could do anything fun for the day, everyone had to get practicing done,” Turner said. “When the children were younger, it used to be a rule to play the piano for the missionaries when they came over to eat dinner, but we weaseled out of that rule and it hasn’t been around for a very long time.”

Tiffany Allen, a freshman from Mission, S.D., clearly remembers all of the household responsibilities she shared with her siblings as they worked to live up to mom’s standard.

“[We had to do] ‘kitchen jobs’ after each meal, and each person was assigned to a different one each day and it rotated: dishes, drainer, sweep and mop, clear and wipe the table, bathroom, hallway, living room, stove and counters,” Allen said.

Both Allen and Turner were required to do an hour of reading before 30 minutes to an hour could be spent on computer/video games.

So what happens when you break one of mother’s rules?

“One evening my brothers and I had forgotten to feed and water the horses, cows, dogs and cats and had gone to bed. My mother went out to check to see if the feeding had been done, and after realizing it wasn’t, came and pulled us out of our beds as we were (me in my nightshirt and my brothers just in their shorts),” Allen said. “She sent us outside in the dark to go do our responsibilities.”

Turner had a bit more luck, because she didn’t get caught.

“When my dog was a puppy and I had just gotten her, she was supposed to stay in the kitchen until she was housebroken,” Turner said. “But once when my mother wasn’t around, my sister and I took her into our mother’s room to play and she ended up soiling the comforter on the bed. We got it all cleaned up though, and my mother didn’t find out until years after.”

Although they may not have liked the rules as children, both Allen and Turner said many of their mothers’ rules will someday be enforced in their own homes.

“I’m a better person because of [my mother’s rules] and having rules gives me something I can depend on,” Turner said.

Allen said the rules in her house helped everyone work together as a family, and though some rules didn’t make sense to her at the time, she looks back and sees the wisdom in them.

“I think I’ll have lots of rules like my mom’s, especially: feed the animals before you go to bed,” Allen said.