Obviously I did it just to spite my 15yr old

Lol it would've been very early on set dementia and she was VERY convincing that she knew them, so much so I still continued to cautiously ask if she did if she managed to keep a straight face as we walked away

I drove my 15 year old for an hour early one Saturday morning so she could help out with her friends’ family’s lovely business (think wellness activities). I should not have accepted the invitation to have a quick look the premises round apparently as that’s ‘sooooooo embarrassing’ 😔

In 1990 I was 12 and had long long hair that was permed. I had it in a half up half down in style. Bunsen burner on. I was talking to my new best friend and ignoring my old best friend from primary school and flicking my hair back and forth. My old best friend said Hazel your hair is on fire. I told her to be quiet and stopped being jealous. She said it again and I put my hand to my hair and yes it was on fire. I ran to the teacher and all he said that was what I got for having half a tin of hairspray in my hair. My hair was ok just singed but I ended up having it all cut out in 1991

Changed days lol

I would just think you had dementia, and feel sorry for you…

I'm now 38 and can confirm that my dad is still the most mortifying man I've ever met. I love him so much but... my god. My sister in law got engaged recently and when she put out her hand to show my dad her ring, he kissed her hand. That man wouldn't know a social cue if it smacked him in the face (which she nearly did).

The same man who DID walk into the disco at 1am to pick me up when I was 13, actually walked right in. What a psycho. I was slow dancing with a boy in my year. I'm still sweating at the traumatic memory.

I swear I'm not even going to look at my children between the age of 11 up until they need help with a deposit for a house.

My dad had a lada! It was a step up from the old skoda pick up truck which he managed to break the window of and instead of ever fixing it he just duct taped a piece of perspex in. It was like that for years! My kids are small so I am reading this thread to prepare myself for ~6 years time.

I once said "ohh well done" when DD managed a difficult intercept during a netball match. I was suitably punished by not being allowed to watch any further games, so spent an hour every week sitting in my car MNing and eating chocolate- for the next 2 years - instead of on the sidelines in all weathers with the other mums...

The young Victoria Beckham (then Victoria Adams) was embarrassed by her father taking her to school in a Rolls Royce. She also turned up to her first day at secondary school in exactly the correct uniform, then saw that nobody else did, because nobody else could afford it.

@BebbanburgIsMine Yes they do. Hopefully not all the time, but they are finding their feet in the world, beginning to grow apart from their parents, often in the shock of puberty, discovering their own identity, and part of that is rebelling against their parents. Perfectly normal. Even some of us have admitted to our own teenage moments on this thread. With yours, you must have been very lucky, or they expressed their rebellions when you weren't there to see it.

I refused to let my teen take her school bag with her on an overseas trip to America - a schoolbag that had been around more weed than Cheech and Chong and would have seen her arrested as soon as she entered America.

I was not only ruining her life by refusing to allow her to take her favourite bag but also by sending her to that school in the first place! It was the only school with space, so not exactly a choice.

8 years later and she's almost ready to admit I had a point.

I have a wonderful memory of arriving home from school (which was two buses and a long walk away) and waking down the path in the dark to a house with a delightful glow of light and a smell of wonderful home cooking.

My Mum remembers me getting home from school and asking 'what's for dinner', pulling a face and stomping off to my room.

I don’t want to come across as goady, but do teenagers really behave like this?

I have two DDs, now in their early thirties, and neither of them ever behaved like this.

My dad has made it his life's work to embarrass his 3 daughters. We are all in our 40s and he's still at it. The partners are used to it by now and find it hilarious, but we spend XMas in a state of teenage cringe.

He loves it and will do it until the day he dies. The contrary old adorable bugger.

I was told by my then teen daughter that I was “always hanging around” - in my own house in an evening which was obviously sooooo unreasonable and presumably I should have just gone and sat in my car or something.

My Mum bought a 2CV.
She got rid of it after a year when neither I, my brother or Dad would get in it!

Poor brave little soldier- imagine the selfishness of your own mother wanting to consider spending money on herself. - the nerve . I’m surprised she didn’t collapse in horror

Tweensandterribletwos · Today 21:46

I make mine spit out their chewing gum and ask in French if they want to go to the toilet - the horror!

If this is where you admit that you're a geography teacher in Denmark, then I'm with the kids!

I’ve done this before. Out shopping and thought after her 20 shops (including returns) I’d have a quick look whilst passing some jeans. She nearly collapsed with utter boredom. I immediately stopped and comforted her. She was a real trooper if I’m honest.

The secret is, you have to lean in to their enbarasssment. I mean I KNEW that the kids would one day find me embarrassing - but I just thought they meant my presence around their mates. Oh no - it means everything about your character, the way you look, your interests, hobbies and the words you use. So I stay being myself and lean into it. DD huffed off in the supermarket the other day because I was singing along to the song playing and it’s soooooo embarrassing-ger (they also add syllables to words when moody). I started singing louder. She stormed off then came back because she “couldn’t find the way out”😂😂 and was most annoyed I didn’t stay put and wait for her in the cereal aisle. Mama has shit to do, love

‘Trying to be funny’ earned me a very stern ticking off…
I also asked the French teacher if DD needed a tutor (embarrassing enough) but apparently I managed to do it in a way that strongly implied that I was expecting the teacher to give up his holiday and tutor for free!

I’m pretty sure my almost 12yo thinks I wake up every morning thinking “I know what I’m going to do today on top of working 8 hours cooking and cleaning - I’m going to wind DD up, make my every action all about how to piss her off and start arguments.” It’s the only explanation given that I can literally just be in a room and she’ll come in and go “What?!” 🙄 to think I wished the toddler years away

I was selected (from a huge pool of volunteers, who are all desperate to spend even a moment in her company) to collect DD16 from school one day last week.

As I was driving down the hill (basking in the glory of DD having deemed me worthy of sitting next to in the front seat, rather than in the back like I'm a taxi driver, as is usual when I give lifts to her friends), just 30 seconds away from school, a car started to pull out of a side road straight into our path.

Foolishly, I realise now, I beeped my horn in warning to the other driver, as although I obviously detest my daughter, and am always coming up with ways to upset her, I didn't want her to end up in hospital, and have to share a bathroom with "randos". DD's response to me sounding my horn was "NO! Why would you do that?"

I then made the mistake of responding; "Errrr, that car was going to pull out right in front of me!" Apparently it wasn't, the driver would definitely have seen us, and there was ABSOLOUTELY NO NEED for me to TOTALLY EMBARRASS DD by sounding the horn in the vicinity of all the pupils walking home from school. I feel like such a fool.

Duly chastised, I submitted to the sighing and silent treatment most of the way home, until I came to the crashing realisation that I had Totally Fucked Up. Never fear, thought I, and offered to drive to the nearest Costa for a whipped white chocolate frappe, to prove that despite all evidence to the contrary, purposefully embarrassing DD so much that it is ALL anyone at school will be talking about for the next month, I'm not actually the devil incarnate, sent to cause misery to teens, wherever I go!

To be fair, she's usually lovely, but I remember being mortified by most things my DM did when I was a teen! @AnAlpacaForChristmasPleaseSanta - my DM had a bright yellow, 3 door VW Polo when I was 15 and my DSis was 13. My DSis would always tell DM to put the front seat forward as soon as she arrived to pick us up, so DSis could open the door and fling herself down across the back seats before anyone saw her!

For spite, I address my kids on social media publicly as “famalan”. I know it’s Famalam, but I make sure that they hear Fam-Alan. Sends them mad.

Ha.

I worked in Asda and we had a woman come in and she had all her bags folded nearly in some sort of bag and she wiped out the Asda bags and I commented that she could use her Tesco bags