The Best Parenting Advice My Mom Gave Me

With Mother’s Day less than a week away, we wanted to know how our readers’ moms affected their lives. We asked members of the HuffPost Parents community to share the best pieces of parenting advice they ever received from their moms.

Some of the tidbits are funny, while others are more earnest. They’re all endearing in their own way.

Here are nine inspiring slices of wisdom: 

“The sink won’t remember if you cleaned it every night before bed. The laundry won’t mind staying unfolded for several days. The kids will remember time with Mom. Your husband will appreciate the 10 minutes you spend together.”  Valeria Nijm

“Be willing to admit when you’ve made a mistake to your kids, and apologize.”  Jen Hall 

“This nugget came from my mom, who got it from her mother. If something bad happened, my grandmother would say, ‘Oh, well!’ She’s right, you just have to roll with the punches and move on from things.”  Wendy Pitoniak

“‘Have you tried going to the bathroom?’ Great advice from my mom, which I’ve shared with my own children time and again. Sometimes the solution to the problem is as simple as that.”  Elizabeth Meinicke Flynn

“When I was deep in the throes of postpartum anxiety, my mom told me, ‘You’re not always going to feel like a good mom, but if you’re trying to be one, you’ll be one.’”  Courtney Leonard

“Never say, ‘My child will/would never do that.’ They’ll make you eat your words every time.”  Katherine Wright Reidy

“It’s nothing she said so much as how she raised us to be able to do things on our own. Yes, she helped and showed us how to do things at first, but we knew she wouldn’t do it every time for us. Now I’m raising my sons that way and it has been an absolute blessing now that there are two. I can trust my oldest to take care of a lot of little things while I manage the baby, and what’s most rewarding is how proud he is of himself for it.”  Melissa Gillenwater

“Not really advice, but my mom taught me to use washcloths instead of baby wipes. I bought a pack of washcloths a different color than my other ones and used those ones only to wipe my son. It saves a ton of money and doesn’t stink up the hamper. I only used baby wipes when we were on the go. I’ll be doing the same for the next one as well. As an added bonus, my son very rarely got diaper rash, I would notice it only started popping up if I used the wipes more than usual.”  China Wilkinson

“Best advice I received was from my daughter’s biological mother: You can’t spoil a baby. So much truth in that statement! Don’t be afraid to hold, rock, snuggle a wee one too much. It’s not possible to give too much love!”  Sara Neale MacGregor

Submissions have been edited and condensed for clarity.