As a teenager I often went head to head with my mother who more often than not either didn’t agree with something that I had said or me going against what she was saying!
Truth be told this went on well beyond my teenage years, as a matter of fact it still continues at times!
And now that I am a mother I can see my own girls trying to prove me wrong at almost everything!
It seems I ‘nag’ and give them a ‘hard time’ a bit too much!
Personally I don’t see it as nagging as much as trying to make sure things are done.
And hard time?
I don’t think so!
However, a new study now shows that girls who have mothers who nagged them when they were younger were more likely to get better paying jobs, go to college and even avoid teen pregnancy compared with those daughters of mothers who were more relaxed.
A study of 15,000 girls between the ages of 13 and 14, which lasted from 2004 until 2010, showed that high parental expectations played a role in the life choices of those girls.
It was the expectation of the main parent, in this case the mother, who was most influential.
Many of us can attest to the fact that mothers who are on us regularly certainly help us to stay in line.
Something that is interesting is the fact that teenagers don’t have to appreciate the advice that their mothers are giving them.
Regardless of whether they listen or not, nagging has that positive effect.
“In many cases, we succeeded in doing what we believed was more convenient for us, even when this was against our parents’ will. But no matter how hard we tried to avoid our parents’ recommendations, it is likely that they ended up influencing…choices,” says the study.
I won’t lie my mother lives in my head most of the time, and there’s little I can do to keep her out of there!
So perhaps I am in my daughters’ heads too, and if so, means I am doing my job right!
I am pretty sure I will get a call from my mother when she reads this to say ‘you are welcome’ but before she does I will say ‘thank you!’
If you are a mum who nags regularly, you can be more confident in doing so now and do so with your head held high!
Give your daughter the regular routine of don’t do drugs and do well in school.
It’s good for them, and science has proven it.
I wonder if science can prove husbands with supposedly ‘nagging’ wives are better off too!?