12 Adults On The Disturbing Moment They Realized ‘Geez, My Parents Were Right’

Parents are correct roughly 99% of the time. It’s science. (I’m pretty sure.)

Unfortunately, most of us don’t fully appreciate the breadth of parental knowledge in our youth. We believe that our folks are utterly oblivious to the realities of being young, and assume that they are incapable of understanding the subtle nuances of, say, a high school relationship. (Trading notes is a legitimate form of romantic communication, MOM!)

At some point, however, we all come to the unpleasant realization that we were nothing more than acne-ridden idiots in our adolescent and teen years. We learn to appreciate our parents’ words of wisdom and advice, and feel pangs of guilt for those moments when we chose to ignore their guidance.

A recent AskReddit thread prompted Redditors to share the moment they realized, “Oh shit, my parents were right,” and it’s pretty clear that everyone has come to the same, begrudging conclusion: there’s pretty much never a moment when parents aren’t right.

We may all be a little slow on the uptake, but hey — better late than never, right?

1. Minhaj450’s parents were right about the transient properties of friendships:

“Not all your friends need to be ‘forever-friends’, some people are just desired to be your friend for that right time in your life.”

2. whalepine can finally admit that bringing an extra jacket is never a bad idea:

It was cold and I did need a jacket … but I’ll be damned if I’m going to admit that to my mom.

3. thatlldoit17 seriously regrets not wearing their retainer:

“Wear your retainer.” Lost that damn thing a week after I got my braces off and was worried about getting in trouble with my parents, so I never said anything. Cut to 20 years later and I’m looking into Invisalign because my teeth have become noticeably crooked. That shit is like $4k.

4. tinyahjumma finally appreciates how emotionally draining it is to be a parent:

After a breakup with my first real boyfriend, my dad told me that there is no greater emotional pain than seeing your child hurting. Damn. A couple of decades later, I realized he’s right.

5. Jesmasterzero wishes that they’d taken their parents’ financial advice:

“Start saving as soon as you can. You don’t have as much money as you think you do.”

Told me that when I had a part-time job whilst living at home. Thought I was loaded until I moved out and realized how expensive life is.

6. yoteachcaniborrowpen now realizes that parental hunches about boyfriends are usually correct:

My grandmother didn’t like my boyfriend, said he was lazy, arrogant, and using me.

A couple of months after college when I’m making him wake up after partying all night so I can drive him to work on time, I realized, “Shit. She’s right.”

7. rubics123 can finally appreciate their dad’s joie de vivre:

My dad always stressed not giving a shit what people think about him, and it would always embarrass me as a kid and whatnot.

But more and more recently I’ve been realizing how right he is, and how much happier it makes you when you just don’t give a fuck.

8. StevenHuffman’s parents taught them the power of pessimism:

“If it sounds too good to be true, it is.”

9. eraser_dust wishes that they’d taken advantage of their required sleep time:

There will come a day when I wish I can take afternoon naps every day.

10. MajorMustard wasted a lot of time not listening to their parents’ warnings:

When they warned me how easy it is to stay in a comfortable situation rather than the right one.

Wasted a lot of time because I was cozy with the routine, then I looked up and realize I had spent 3 years being comfortable.

11. HueyLewisAndTheShoes finally respects their mom’s cleanliness:

The big one for me was always being told to clean my room. My mum in particular was always on my back about it and at the time I had the mentality of “my room, my space, my mess.” I couldn’t understand why she would even look in my room if she knew that mess would bother her.

Now I own my own place and the idea of someone constantly messing it up is horrible. I completely see now that my parents worked hard for our house, it was their home long before I was around, and they liked it looking a certain way.

12. Buckwildkoala now knows that their parents weren’t kidding about late-night shenanigans:

“Hardly anything good happens after midnight.”

Learned this back in college the hard way.