Wisdom.

Wisdom is defined as the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment; the quality of being wise.

synonyms: sagacity · intelligence · sense · common sense

My friend, Amy, and I were talking about wisdom.  What makes a person wise?  Is wisdom a common trait among older people?  Are young people allowed to be wise? 

I used to tease my kids and tell them that I was wise, therefore, they should listen to me.  It worked for a bit, but then they got “wise” and the novelty wore off.  Now and then, they ask me for advice.  I try NOT to be the mom and mother – in – law that is pushy and offers advice unwanted. 

When my kids had their own kids, I was not the mom (I don’t think at least) that told them how to do things.  My logic on this was very deliberate.   My son had the first baby so I assumed the role of encouraging all questions be directed to my daughter in laws mother.  I assumed that the mother/daughter bond was going to be stronger and I wasn’t going to be caught up in a spat of…. “my mom said”. 

When my daughter had a baby, her mother in law is a neonatal nurse.  Obviously the better choice for advice.

Please don’t read into this as I knew that there would be issues.  That certainly wasn’t in my thought process.  I just saw it as life with a new born, especially your first can be a challenge.  There is not one right way to do things with babies, and a new mom is going to ask for advice, as is a new dad.  There really is no need to add stress with conflicting ways to bathe a baby or swaddle a newborn.  I chose to step back and be secondary in the baby advice department.

With that said, I am somewhat of a fixer.  I tend to automatically go from hearing a situation that needs fixed to saying, “here’s what we need to do”.   So I suspect that advice spouted out of my mouth without me even realizing it.

I look more at things as being logical.  When I think of a person with wisdom, I immediately think of Grandma Onega.  She was a wise, wise woman.  She had a nature about her that exuded wisdom.  She was super smart.  She had common sense.  She had intuition.  She would engage with everyone and anyone.  I am sure that I could never be as wise as she was. 

Please share your thoughts.  Are all smart people with common sense and logic wise?  Is wisdom an inherited trait?  Is wisdom even still a thing?  Or is wisdom simply eluded by people just confident enough to talk in a way that "sells" themselves ?