- New research reveals the top 10 most popular pieces of advice from UK mums.
- Advice on healthy eating and having good manners feature in the top 10.
- Most UK mums also believe you should never ‘go to sleep on an argument’.
UK mums are renowned for providing both their family and friends with helpful and sometimes humorous advice. And, in the run-up to Mother’s Day, retirement property developer McCarthy & Stone has carried out a study to determine the nation’s 10 favourite pieces of motherly advice.
The results of this study have found that the health of our eyes is paramount to most mums as ‘Don’t watch too much TV, your eyes will go square!’ was by far the most popular choice with nearly a quarter of the total vote. This was followed by ‘Good manners cost nothing’ which received the second highest number of votes and ‘Don’t go to sleep on an argument’ which had the third highest.
To qualify as recognised ‘mums’ advice’, McCarthy & Stone’s researchers had to ensure that the advice itself was something familiar to people across the whole of the country, to avoid any regional bias. They then conducted a survey giving the Great British public the opportunity to vote for their favourite from the curated list. The results were tallied and the top 10 was ranked.
You can find a full breakdown of the results from McCarthy & Stone here.
The wider results also showed some interesting regional variations in the top 10. In the Midlands, for instance, mums are clearly more punctual as the most popular motherly advice was ‘The early bird catches the worm’. In the South West, being polite mattered the most as ‘Good manners cost nothing’ was the top choice. London mums’ advice was mainly nutritional in nature with ‘Eat your carrots, they will make you see in the dark’ and ‘Always eat your greens’ receiving the most votes.
A spokesperson for McCarthy & Stone offered their thoughts on the findings:
“What stands out most about the top 10, is that it’s clear our mums always have our best interests at heart with their advice. Whether it’s trying to protect our physical wellbeing, giving us helpful life lessons or by simply encouraging us to stop bickering and be nice.
“It’s also great to see how this kindliness is something that’s recognised across the UK and across the generations. Even the more tongue-in-cheek advice has withstood the test of time to be something mums of all ages have and are still known to be heard saying.
“Hopefully our top 10 will also be a reminder of just how much our mums mean to us and how important they are in our lives – especially with Mother’s Day just around the corner.”