Parents treating you as a child when single

[katemiddletonsnudeheels]

Silly question as both parents are dead now.

I'm doing a bit of basic diy stuff at the moment, and I was wondering (to myself) why I hadn't ever done it before. I am positive it was because my dad, lovely as he was, had a tendency to get so worked up and anxious about tiny things. If I said I was painting a wall, I'd get 'ooh-ooh, well ...' And a long lecture about all the equipment I'd need and not to get paint anywhere else than the wall.

He would mean to help but it meant I felt very stifled a lot of the time and felt very lacking in freedom, I suppose. I felt like I had to run 'important' decisions by him. It's difficult to articulate quite why.

I was wondering about this and I don't think my dad was particularly unusual. The thread on 'chat' the other week had so many of us saying the same things - about parents reacting in shock when their adult daughters in their thirties and forties were up and out of bed before noon - they still see us as sulky teenagers. I suppose what I'm wondering is why I took it to heart so, when none of my friends do.

I was wondering if it was because of my being single. Friends in relationships tend to talk over, discuss and thrash out important decisions with husbands or partners, but I obviously can't do that. I also feel maybe there was a bit of sexism involved as my dad would think something was ok if a man had said so - but I doubt it as he was the same with my brother.

Can anyone relate?