Dailyprompt-2885
What’s the best advice you’d give to someone younger than you?
Sometimes the best advice isn’t telling someone how to avoid every mistake. It’s making sure they know they never have to face one alone.
I think some of the most important advice I’ve given my children is very simple:
Call me.
I don’t care what time it is.
If you’ve had too much to drink, call me.
If you’re somewhere you don’t feel safe, call me.
If something has gone wrong, call me.
If you made a stupid decision and now need help getting home safely…
Call me.
There will be no interrogation before I help you.
No lecture while you’re frightened.
No “I told you so” when what you need at that moment is someone you trust.
We can talk about what happened afterwards.
Safety comes first.
And yes, I’ve had those phone calls. 😂
I’ve picked up my oldest when they’d had too much to drink. Sometimes young people have to discover their limits the hard way.
But there have also been much more frightening situations.
My oldest daughter, who now lives in Norway, lived with us here in the Canary Islands for a couple of years. One night, she had a very bad experience after someone apparently put something in her drink.
It was her friend who called me.
That’s the kind of call where nothing else matters.
You go.
Another time, the situation was reversed.
That same friend had drunk far too much and became sick in the taxi. My daughter called and asked me to come and help.
So I did.
The poor girl was very grateful the next day—hungover, but grateful. 😂
I didn’t berate her.
I told her to talk to her mother about what had happened and suggested that next time she slow down and be more careful about how quickly she drank.
Especially here in the Canary Islands, where the heat can affect you too. You might think you know exactly how much alcohol you can handle, only to discover that your body has other ideas.
She did tell her mother.
Later, her mother called me and thanked me for taking care of her daughter.
But to me, that’s simply what you do.
I’d hope someone would do the same for mine.
Maybe that’s the advice I’d give younger people:
Have someone you can call.
And be that person for your friends too.
Look after each other.
Don’t leave someone alone because they’re drunk, embarrassed or have made a mistake.
And if something feels wrong, take it seriously.
Getting home safely matters much more than avoiding an awkward conversation the following morning.
And to the parents?
Try to remember what it was like to be young.
We have a wonderful saying in Norwegian:
“Det er ikke så lenge siden kua var kalv.”
Literally:
“It wasn’t so long ago that the cow was a calf.”
In other words, don’t become so grown-up that you forget you were young once too.
We made mistakes.
We tested boundaries.
We thought we knew everything.
Sometimes we learned the hard way.
Our children will too.
We can’t protect them from every mistake or every bad person they encounter.
But we can make sure they know one thing:
Whatever happened, wherever you are, whatever time it is—call me. We’ll get you somewhere safe first. Everything else can wait until morning. 💜
https://ditto.fm/silenced-but-not-broken
My new song “Silenced but not broken” Lyric video.
With love, coffee, poetry, and stardust,
— Maggie The Afterlove Voice 💫
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