Help protect children from gaming harms.

Take our survey

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to snap after my mum kept calling a bike a trike?

361 replies

Crayo · 01/08/2026 14:43

i am looking to get my daughter her first bike. She’s 5 and has had a balance bike before but never a real bike. Everytime I speak to my mum she asks me if I’ve found a “trike” yet. I keep telling her it’s a bike I’m getting, 2 wheels” and she always says “oh yes, you know what I mean”.

Well this has been going on weeks and literally everytime I speak to her she asks about the “trike” and I constantly correct her and say “bike”. She does have a habit of asking the same question for weeks at a time and she also has form for deliberately saying the wrong words for attention and it’s tiring.

this morning I was at my mums and my sister was there. I went to toilet and when I came back my sister said “not being funny but isn’t DD old enough for a proper bike now?” I asked what she was on about as I am getting her a proper bike and she said “mum! You said she was getting a trike!”

So I lost it, screamed and shouted “stop saying it’s a fucking trike!! You know it’s not so just fucking stop it”

my sister said “Jesus Christ is there any need for that?” So I told her she’s been saying trike for weeks and it’s winding me up so she said “she gets mixed up, there’s no need to scream like that” but the annoying part is she doesn’t get mixed up!!! She does it on purpose and has been doing this for years!

OP posts:
Mouldybroc · 01/08/2026 14:45

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

deletealt734 · 01/08/2026 14:46

😂

ScrollingLeaves · 01/08/2026 14:46

How do you know she doesn’t have a lot in her mind, leading to her forgetting, or early dementia?

GrillaMilla · 01/08/2026 14:46

It sounds annoying, I understand what you mean.

But I would never scream and use the F word towards my mum, a total overreaction. And I hope you didn't do it in front of your daughter, a terrible example. Don't be surprised if she does it back to you.

grumpygrape · 01/08/2026 14:47

How do you know she does it deliberately?

TheLightSideOfTheMoon · 01/08/2026 14:47

My mum used to call me a slut and tell me the only good thing about me was that I was pretty.

You need to simmer down.

mathanxiety · 01/08/2026 14:48

Any other annoying traits that have in common a misplaced idea of what constitutes humor?

I know an older person who doesn't understand humour, never has, and wouldn't understand why others wouldn't find this sort of 'joke' funny. Strongly suspect this older person is (never diagnosed) neurodivergent. There are other elements of behaviour and personality that go toward forming the suspicion too.

FeliciaFancybottom · 01/08/2026 14:48

What kind of trike are you getting?

pouletvous · 01/08/2026 14:48

my mother does this too. Dont bite. That’s what she wants

it’s deliberately antagonistic

she knows what she’s doing

AnitaCam · 01/08/2026 14:50

Did you find a good trike yet? It’s been going on for weeks.

pouletvous · 01/08/2026 14:50

grumpygrape · 01/08/2026 14:47

How do you know she does it deliberately?

Because evryone knows that Bi means two and Tri is three and 5 year olds don’t have three wheeled cycles

itsgettingweird · 01/08/2026 14:51

Well yrs YWBU to scream and swear at your mum.

The better way would be to look at your mum, smile and head tilt “mum, I really think we need to get you a GP apt to test your cognitive ability. I’ve been telling you a 2 wheeled bike isn’t called a trike for 3 weeks now. It’s really worrying you can’t remember”

NullaEffugium · 01/08/2026 14:51

I really could not let this bother me. To be at the point where trike vs bike throws you into swearing and shouting in public at your mum indicates you have anger issues. Get a grip.

Tumbler2121 · 01/08/2026 14:52

How come getting the child a bike took so much discussion?

Potooooooooes · 01/08/2026 14:53

OK. Today's shouting wasn't great, but maybe it was enough to stop the trike nonsense from carrying on. [hopeful]

Going forward, put your mum on an information diet. No need to tell her stuff like thinking about getting a bike. If she doesn't know she can't needle you about it.

Crayo · 01/08/2026 14:55

Tumbler2121 · 01/08/2026 14:52

How come getting the child a bike took so much discussion?

It should have done should it! But with my mum you mention something once and she’ll then ask about it every single time she speaks to you for weeks afterwards.

I still have anger issues about the fucking bonsai tree saga.

OP posts:
Shodan · 01/08/2026 14:56

I'm sure you're being unreasonable, but I don't exactly understand why, because my mother used to do something similar and it used to wind me up hugely.

In my case though it went on for over a decade and I'm positive was a ploy to be dismissive about something I cared about, but she thought was 'silly'.

I do karate. I'm a 3rd dan black belt. I've been doing karate for over 20 years, and by the time Mum died I'd already been doing it for around 15 years.

If I ever mentioned anything like training for a grading, or passing one, she'd say 'Oh is this for your judo?' Always judo.

Now I know that many people might not know the difference- but surely, if someone loves you, they might take a bit of an interest in remembering the right word?

PinkyFlamingo · 01/08/2026 14:56

I can see why it would annoy you if you think she's doing it deliberately, got attention. But by losing it that's what she got!

Sparrowsandbudgies · 01/08/2026 14:56

She does sound like she has the start of dementia- not just the whole trike thing but the bringing the same subject up again and again for weeks.

Fredabasset · 01/08/2026 14:56

TheLightSideOfTheMoon · 01/08/2026 14:47

My mum used to call me a slut and tell me the only good thing about me was that I was pretty.

You need to simmer down.

You think you've got problems ?

My mum used to tell me I was a big disappointment to her. I left home as soon as I could and never went back. I funded myself through uni and went on to get a degree in a para-medical speciality and started my own business.

And you're bothered about wheels on a child's toy?

Gee whizz !

Crayo · 01/08/2026 14:56

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

If I was bored and on a wind up I would have chosen a much more entertaining subject, believe me.

unless you’ve experienced this behaviour you have absolutely no idea how it grinds you down.

OP posts:
Chaarlene · 01/08/2026 14:56

"Stop saying it's a fucking trike!"
(*actual footage of OP)

The Shining GIF
AnitaCam · 01/08/2026 14:56

She has a different brain than you. Get over it. You’re mean.

TheLightSideOfTheMoon · 01/08/2026 14:56

There’s a Bonsai Tree Saga?

Spill.

Chaarlene · 01/08/2026 14:58

TheLightSideOfTheMoon · 01/08/2026 14:56

There’s a Bonsai Tree Saga?

Spill.

Pls don't.

Swipe left for the next trending thread