Me, too! :-) It also took me having my own child to realize that parenting is an art of living not lecturing. My mom said some funny sentences while she was still alive. She always used old phrases/rhymes when she wanted to transport something. For example:

"Blinder, mach die Augen auf, Heirat ist kein Pferdekauf."
(Blind man, open your eyes, marriage is not buying a horse.)

"Immer lustig und vergnügt, bis der Arsch im Sarge liegt."
(Always funny and hilarious until your ass is in the coffin.)

"Die Frieda lädt (das Gewehr), der Oswald schießt."
(Frieda loads (the gun), Oswald shoots.)

My mother was not an apologetic person. She also never defended herself when being attacked by us children. She was only shaking her head and answered: You should stop saying that.

I learned from her to be persistent. When my mom wanted to achieve something she didn't give up until she reached her goal. Combined with an annoying stubbornness:)

I also learned in becoming the opposite of her when it comes to use a nasty tongue. For a very strange reason, she was much less forgiving with women than with men.

I learned that love goes through the stomach :-)

How good that your mother wasn't hard to you when you ran home from school. It's so good to hear that from other women that there is a great understanding between the generations and that finally, so many children forgive their parents to be mistaken or weak.