What's the one advice you will give your son/daughter someday?

I disagree with some of these.

Don’t change yourself just to make someone happy

I don't know about everyone here but my first breakup catalyzed a lot of personal changes that overall made me a better person. If I were to pretend that she was in the wrong for breaking up with me and I was a great person and self love blah blah blah I would probably be intolerable. There are obvious things that people can change and should put effort to change that would make them better people for their significant others, be it exercising or being more worldly. This idea that love is just 2 people that are completely compatible in every way just drives me up the fucking wall.

A small amount of your paycheck should go directly to your savings account every month

Savings accounts are worthless and have horrible returns. This is advice from the 90's. I'm no finance expert but I don't think anyone seriously advises putting anything into a savings account. You're better off putting it in a retirement account, an IRA or the stock market.

Never take her to the movies on the first date

Unless of course you two talk about movies all the time and enjoy movies and want something to talk about over dinner later so there's no dead air. There's plenty of reasons to go to the movies for a first date.

Don’t let the little head do the thinking for the big head

I get that this point is something about "always go for it", or don't let anxiety stop you from achieving your dreams but it almost always comes across to me and younger people as "disregard risk" which is pretty bad advice. There are a ton of things that you should be VERY anxious about even considering and there should be a lot of internal deliberation. As sexy an idea "just go for it" is, there are plenty of instances in my life where "just going for it" had horrible consequences and had I just put an iota of thought behind my actions I'd be in better places than I am today.

/r/AskReddit Thread Parent