Answering to Questions

Philosophy
Is the talk on a cereal box
Religion
Is the smile on a dog
I'm not aware of too many things
I know what I know
If you know what I mean

Choke me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep
What I am is what I am
Are you what you are
Or What?

-Edie Brickell

:)

How many jobs have you had? How many places have you lived? How many relationships have you had? You are not old enough to have had enough of these life experiences to be a know-it-all. Keep living and one day you will realize just how much you DON'T know!

The older you get, the more you realize the less you know.
Believing you "know it all" is a sign of youth and inexperience, not maturity.

Honestly, I don't mean to be catty or rude, but how much can one definitively know at 22? Get back to us in a few decades; I bet your response will be different. :)

" Knowledge speaks, wisdom listens" ~ Jimi Hendrix

Do you see how immature your statement sounds, "being there done that I push a little harder for what I know." Not to sound old but I am old enough to know that I didn't know squat at your age. Granted I thought I did and thankfully not many were harmed in that adventure, but I knew nothing! You actually know nothing but you are too young to realize that yet.

Yes, I hated when older people told me that at your age too! and I didn't listen to them either because I knew everything from all of my life's experiences. :-/

Funny thing is when you get older you will be proven wrong, over and over and over and eventually you learn the lesson life is teaching you, you don't know anything!

So although I come off as a know it all the one thing in life I know for sure is that I don't know squat!

Your question reminds me of this famous Mark Twain quote:

"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years."

Given what I personally went through by the young age of 22, I had already raised 2 siblings from birth, and diapered them using clothe diapers, and potty trained them on regular old toilets with out special little seats, and fed them regular ground up adult food, I know I could have given out tons of great advice in my 20's to other moms. But believe me, I am glad this site did not exist then, because I think my advice back then would have done more harm then good. I would have thought my way was the best way. But now I know to not listen to what people say, but how they say it. I've had the pleasure of meeting some wonderful, amazing, mature, insightful and different women on this site. And I would not want to offend any one of them with a 'take it or leave it' attitude.

In youth we learn. With age we understand.

But what do I know? I'm only 30 years older than you.

“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”
― Socrates

Know what you know...but also know what you do not know.

I'm 30. I'm willing to bet I "know" more then you do. At 35, someone will know more then me. At 40, someone will know more then them. So on and so on.

Certain things come with age. Like, realizing you haven't been on the earth long enough to know much at all. With every year I age, I learn just how little I know. There is a reason wisdom comes with age. I don't pretend to be old enough, to have a wealth of wisdom.

You are not wise, don't fool yourself. In 10 years you will laugh and shake your head, at the things you thought you knew.

Maybe you really do know everything, because apparently you know what you're talking about, but I have no idea...

Well, my nephew at 23 certainly THINKS he knows it all and is happy to throw his weight around. (He has been awful to my son who is 4 years younger than him and has a lot less experience.) My nephew might be savvy in a lot of things, but he doesn't know squat in my opinion, when it comes to not acting like a jerk.

I DO understand that you are saying "I feel like". I don't think that you are trying to be rude by what you are saying. However, one thing you may want to consider is what your words sound like to people who are twice your age and have a lot more years of life experience. I certainly am different in my mid 50's than I was in my early 20's. I'll be different when I am in my 70's than I am in my 50's.

Nikki also has it right when she says we bring our experience to the table here in answering questions.

Dawn

Oh, I'm well aware that sometimes I come off like a know-it-all. I'm trying to check myself and rephrase things in my head when I'm interacting with people in real life that don't know me personally to minimize that obnoxious impression.

Online I'm sure I come off that way sometimes but at least I attempt to qualify or clarify my responses and usually have the time to do so.

It's part of my speech patterns and often feeling like I just have so much to share, and then feeling like I have to make sure that I do clarify what I'm saying and how I know what I know... I feel like I have to justify my knowledge. In real life that often comes off sounding like I'm a know-it-all. It sometimes comes off as defensive too.

I'm working on it.

EDIT: I really don't believe I know everything. I realize that I don't. I just enjoy sharing my experiences and I love to talk. :-) A lot.

I think that at all points in our lives.....we will somehow be proven wrong or shown a better way to do things. It is our willingness to learn, our opening up of ourselves which allows us to grow.

To assume we "know it all", for me, begins our own personal downtrend.... spiralling into the madness of not moving forward in this life of ours. To assume we "know best", to me, means we haven't learned a thing.

It is the arrogance of youth. It is the death of any future for the elderly.

When I was a teenager, I hated how my Mom/I disconnected over trendy issues. We could not ride together in the car without a disconnect over the music. To me, that was sad beyond belief. I had always enjoyed listening/singing along with the music with my Mom......& when it ended, it was a huge loss for me. As a teenager, I vowed my children would never feel that disconnect.

I am very proud that my sons & I all share music together. We don't always agree on each other's choices, but we do listen/share together & then make our own playlists. & I love that they quite often have to tell me "turn it down"!! What a role reversal!

Our most current dowloads included: "Canon in D" by the Boston Pops Orchestra; Black Violin's "Brandenburg & Dirty Orchestra"; Train's "Drive By & 50 Ways to Say Goodbye" ; & a Linkin Park song. What diversity & what fun for all of us! & this playlist shows how I'm continuing to grow/learn.....& my sons (age 16 & 25) are open to new worlds too.

& that is what I hope to share with the world: to be free & embrace learning. I have always told my friends/family......the day I stop wanting to learn is the day I will begin to die. :)

i never know it all and never will! i never believe i have the right advice even if i went though it. i can give my imput based on my limited life experience. Ussually we dont go through the same thing a zillion diferent ways and certainly not with their life experience. For example, I had an abusive alcoholic dad from birth on up, i can tell my experience and give an opinion but in no way am i an expert on anything regarding alcoholics or living anyone elses life... because there are a zillion ways for things to be done

there is no right way in life, although there is a few wrong ways

No, because when people ask for advice, we all speak from our experiences (from what we "know").

Just because you're only 22 doesn't mean you know nothing. It means you haven't experienced as much as other, older Moms. But you're still speaking from YOUR experiences. Nothing wrong with that.

So no, I don't feel like a know-it-all, because none of us knows it all.

I try to answer the questions that I have experience with,hense the name, beenthere. I will venture into related experiences. I will give opinions on quite a few things.
But what I usually know the most on is how NOT to do something I have already messed up. That's an old people's gig!

I am rarely 100 percent sure about anything, mostly because I know that I don't have all the facts.
It's always interesting to me what the first few people say to the questions here. Mostly they (or I) are replying to a gut feeling or a reaction to something that has happened in their lives. The subsequent ones are more objective and thought out. Some people just open their mouths and stuff falls out. It's ok. It's a slice of life. You have to search for your wisdom and sift through a lot of hot air and experience to find it.
You know your victories from one point of view now. You will have another POV later in life.

I feel strongly about biting off more than you (not YOU) can chew regarding things involving "payments", etc. that includes cars, houses & keeping up with the Jonses in general. Also about advocating for kids, healthy adult relationships and some other things....
When, for example, a wife feels she can " love an addict" enough to produce change, or a kid is getting the short end of the stuck, or someone figures they CAN afford that McMansion if the just stop getting pizza on Friday nights...yeah, I answer with conviction.
Different people know more about different things. At 48, this isn't my first rodeo and I probably have a good pair of shoes older than you! Lol
BUT age isn't always an indicator of experience and/or knowledge either...

We all have our experiences that make us know-it-alls in our OWN lives, but that doesn't mean that our experiences fit everyone else's situations.

We can offer our own take on a situation, but that doesn't mean there is only one answer or even that our experience fits the situation. :)

I'm glad you are confident in your choices and have your experience to share with others, just be careful how you share this information if you want to be heard. You will make a great mentor to others, if you do.

Just another old lady chiming in. :)

This seems like a very self-serving question. Maybe you are looking for some sort of validation but when questions/statements like this make it on the email from Mamasource I feel bad for the moms that actually have a parenting question and didn't get the "headline treatment". Stick to parenting questions here and ask your real friends to validate you. That is not what this board is for.

I answer questions where I feel I can be of help or in some cases, have a strong opinion. However, like anything, including my opinions and or suggestions, take em or leave em.. I don't take anything on here personally... you just can't.... and yes, I do think I can come off as a know it all.. Although, that isn't necessarily my intention.. but........ I can see how it happens at times.. It's good food for thought.