Tell me my teens aren't the only ones lol

A certain type of person who will come onto a thread like this and call all the parents of dozy teens bad parents, because their own ten year old is a far better educated child, is by default, hailing themselves as the better parent. You know how how they say that the best parent you will ever be is before you have a child? This is like that. Perfect parents despite never having had a teenager!

My DH told me recently that when he was a teenager, he was in the kitchen while his Mum was preparing tea, so she asked him to give her a hand and wash the salad leaves. He ran a bowl of hot water, added Fairy Liquid, and washed the leaves in it, then left them on the side to drain!!

Interestingly, he still has his moments, only a week or so ago, he was sorting out wiring in a dash cam, he wanted to check that the cigarette lighter socket in the car worked, so pushed it in for a few seconds, then stuck his finger inside. Guess who's walking around with a blister like a polo mint on the top of his finger😂

I WAS that kid btw!

In the days of video rental!

For some reason, I placed a rental video on top of the cooker. Unfortunately it was still warm and the rental melted, never to be rented out again! Of course I was bollocked about it and I have no idea how much my DM had to pay to recover the cost, so I have to remember just how ‘away with the fairies’ I was at this age before I judge! 🤣

A smell of burned waffles regularly wafts through our place. DS puts them in the toaster on the usual setting, then walks off. Drives me nuts. Also makes cups of coffee, then walks off and leaves them to go cold. Or fills the mug to the brim and slops it up the hall.

The fear of actual phone conversations is embedded now. It's extremely worrying.

@TheAlertCrow there’s not being perfect and then there’s thinking squid games is real and that you fry eggs in their shell

I once put a bagel in the microwave for 30 minutes instead of 30 seconds, when I eventually remembered it there was smoke billowing out of the back of the microwave!!

These posts genuinely do hearten me, so fuck the haters, because when they're ditsy the fear is real.
My almost 15yo stuffed a huge fruit scone into the toaster, didn't deduce anything amiss from only half the scone she'd stuffed in popping back out again. Thick black smoke pishing from the toaster when next I used it.
And she overfills everything, every time she makes a hot drink or a bowl of noodles, she has to shout me to pour the brimming excess of boiling liquid down the sink. Every. Time.
She often puts things she's taken out of the fridge (like milk and butter) 'back' into a cupboard (distracted entirely by her phone).

These posts have really made me chuckle!

The ONE (and only time) DS (18) totally surprised me by washing his duvet cover (without being asked), I spotted that he’d turned the dial on the washing machine to ‘DUVET’, which tbh makes sense (if you were a novice) and tbf, DH struggles with the washing machine, often mistakenly putting an ECO wash on (which is still running a week later 🤣) so what could I say!

We all do silly shit sometimes, my kids and myself included.

I would actually be more worried about failing as a parent if my kids weren’t able to laugh at themselves (and others!) when this kind of stuff happens.

Being perfect must be so miserable.

I was pretty clued up, I'd learned through watching & helping my mum but she still made sure to make me practice a few dishes before I went.

Having said that, every adult in my life forgot to teach me about payslips & employment contracts so I worked at my first job for 2 years before I discovered I should have both.

Ha ha no. My mum didn’t even know until the next day and he’s still here years later so guess he was ok x

Did he have to go to hospital? Tulip bulbs are really poisonous. And also pretty large!

Honestly, are you not worried about a 16yr old that thinks this? It’s not normal.

My brother, when he was a teenager, came home drunk and made a cheese and onion sandwich. In the morning he told me mum the little onions were much nicer than the usual ones until she pointed out they didn’t have any onions. He’d made the sandwich with a tulip bulb 😂

I had a very similar student period to you.... a kid who can cook on a student campus is like gold dust... why I don't know!

Don't most parents teach their kid how to cook a spagbol before sending them off to uni?

I have had quite a few aupairs around 18 and early twenties. The one that left the gas on left soon after.

I can safely say that most aupairs don't do the things on this thread.

That said, I specifically teach them about safety, like not leaving the kitchen if there is food cooking on the hob, oven or grill and always to set a loud timer.

My dad asked his apprentice to make the tea and pointed out the tea bag tin and the teapot. 10 mins later dad tried to pour a cup and nothing came out. The apprentice had used all the teabags in the one teapot.

We Have a crappy old kitchen that we are planning on replacing when our kids are old enough not to trash the joint. In light of this, my husband has sharpied various basic cooking instructions on the tiles by the kettle and hob in an attempt to mitigate the worst of any artistic cooking attempts! I thought it was quite a good idea if you’re not precious about your tiles 😂

I actually have more stories about my own teenage escapades than my daughters, including but limited to cooking a pizza on its polystyrene packaging, setting fire to multiple pieces of toast when using the grill then walking off and forgetting about it, using a carving tray as a roasting dish (!! It melted. My parents were on holiday at the time and I had to explain what I had done when they got home!) and throwing a pop tart I had accidentally set fire to out of the kitchen window (I don’t remember why) into a bush where it nearly caused a much bigger fire. I don’t know how my parents put up with me to be honest! I do also remember ringing my mum when they were on holiday when I was 18 (literally about to go to university) trying to work out which bit of the washing machine the soap went in…..I am a perfectly functioning adult now, and quite a good cook with no small kitchen fires for ages, promise!!

It is not really perfection to not do illogical things. There is a big middle ground between perfection and I am not even sure what to call it.

My 15 dd once proudly proclaimed she had found a perfect hack for removing blackheads and cleaning her face, she had found an old nail brush under the sink and had been using that 😲(luckily only the once before I intervened)

This is so funny. My 16 yo dd asked me when squid games came out if it was real and the people died. I tried to get her to watch the reality version of the show with me a few months ago and she asked me if the people actually died in the show.

My aunt did this to a chip pan in her 40's, despite all the adverts about using a damp cloth etc, and the entire kitchen went up.

I am a fan of quizzes and as the saying goes, its only easy if you know it and if you didnt know it, now you do so remember it.

I had an au pair break 3 kettles boiling milk in them. First time was forgivable as my 5 year old told her it was fine and would probably work.

Second time, very frustrating as I had told her after the first time that no, you can’t boil milk in the kettle.

Third time I lost the plot. She didn’t last long.

Huh? Not sure I follow your argument. Why do you assume @Iwishicouldflyhigh is a woman? Even if she were, why on earth would her parenting her dcs teaching them household task that vaginas operate washing machines. If she taught them to wash cars or set up flat pack furniture, then vaginas also do those things?

PS in my household Dh does almost all the cooking so by your logic, he is teaching dcs that cooking is for penises?

You are extrapolating without logic and clutching at straws.