Five normal things in your home that your mother wouldn't have had a clue what to do with

[sadpapercourtesan]

Excluding obvious tech stuff like mobile phones, Alexa etc. I'll start:

Olives - we always have at least 2 kinds, my mother would have thought they were poisonous berries

Cat tree/electronic cat toys - one did not provide entertainment for cats when I was growing up! Ours have more stuff than the kids

Different oils - extra virgin olive for salads etc, sesame, sunflower. I don't remember mine actually having any, she didn't really cook with oil

Trainer socks - one of my DC will ony wear these. My mother would have been utterly confused about socks which stop at the top of the foot and leave your ankles bare. She was obsessed with pulling your socks up and not getting cold ankles

Sour cream - I seem to get through so much of this for various things. She would have wrinkled her nose and thrown it out!

My MIL is in her early 70's but is...well...a normal person.

I don't think there's anything she wouldn't be comfortable with.

She looks like Anna Wintour and has the wardrobe and heels to match, travels all over the world still - on her last holiday she was zip lining through the Amazon rainforest.

Apart from the tech that we're not allowed to include, she'd have worked out how to use anything in my house. She was an intelligent woman.

My father lived and worked all over the world but has only just discovered mozzarella di bufala and guacamole and I think it’s fair to say his world is rocked.

My parents are in complete awe of our bifold doors and how they make the kitchen and garden into one space in the summer. “It’s like being on holiday!” They’re much richer than we are and yet getting some for their own house is beyond their wildest dreams for some reason.

Apart from the usual things already mentioned in kitchens: space and real toys for pets. My bunnies, tortoises, birds, guinea pigs,... probably went nuts in their cages. Also, tattoos/piercings. I still remember her preaching to me about a piercing in my eyebrow at 17. My godfearing grandmother had less problems with that though, she just asked if it wasn't too heavy

I'm not sure all of mine are because of her age, exactly...some of it is just that we've lived very different lives and have had different levels of exposure to other cultures etc.

Using microwave and freezer effectively.
Not dusting daily (wtf!)
The appeal of a real fire.
Getting takeaways.
Not being socially and domestically submissive to a man.
Doing without a man entirely.

@StrangerHereMyself My grandmother would have been in her 90s by now, and was rather fond of nasi goreng herself!

I would dearly love to show her round the tech though. She was just getting stuck into learning how to use the only PC in the building when she died in the v early 90s.

I remember walking into my mum's kitchen, years ago, and catching her topping and tailing beansprouts! She wasn't convinced when I told her she didn't need to do that.

My mum is 70 and would know about all of those things as would my dad!

Don't you mean grandmothers? My mother would be coming up to 100 if she were still alive, but she had definitely moved on from olive oil for ears (though I can still remember it from the 60s). Sumac, za'atar etc would have thrown her. In fairness, I've got too old to be arsed with coconut oil and chia seeds.

@sadpapercourtesan What age is your mother? My mother would have known what to do with all of those and so do I. Her mother wouldn't have done but then she'd be 130 if she were still alive so that's hardly a surprise. My parents would both have managed with the technology as well, they both worked with early computers that most of Mumsnet have probably never seen.

This is a very ageist thread.

Nothing really - my Mums pretty on the ball and she's 75

Shower, electric toothbrush, epilator, yoga block. Spiraliser (for veg).
To be fair she’s got lots of gadgets in her house that I wouldn’t know what to do with, some of them dating from pre WWII.

I don't see that it's an ageist thread, given that the OP doesn't refer to age at all

I was asking about differences in family culture - my mother's background was very different from the way my "new family" with DH is, in a different area of the country with different influences etc. Her being older than me is a factor, but it's not the only one.

My lovely DM at 87 was hipper than any of us with gadgets, especially any kitchen gadget, and with food stuffs. She'd try anything, read voraciously so knew what was what, and had the magical ability to produce whatever was discussed - entirely randomly. She'd pop up, grab said item (knew exactly where everything was) and gleefully say 'Ta-Ra'

God, I miss her. Still feel so guilty that I poo-poohed the air fryer she so desperately recommended. She was right :(

It's not ageist regarding my mum either. She's not very old, just very unwilling to try things that are not what she's used to. For example, she'd never try coffee (although she likes the smell of it) because tea seems like a safer option. I know young people like this too.

The slow cooker. That's what a casserole dish is for
The tents. The only camping she's ever done was with Guides with wooden poles and canvas
Spices... But she doesn't like spicy food... Bad experience with 60/70s boarding school cookery
The hot tub.
The motorbike... But I am also clueless

She's 65 for context.

I'm more likely to be able to name five things in my parents house that I have no idea what to do with. They're early 50s and way more up to do date and interesting than I am .

@sadpapercourtesan

I don't see that it's an ageist thread, given that the OP doesn't refer to age at all

I was asking about differences in family culture - my mother's background was very different from the way my "new family" with DH is, in a different area of the country with different influences etc. Her being older than me is a factor, but it's not the only one.

Mothers are obviously older. It's a thread suggesting that there are many things that older people won't know about even though many of them are very ordinary things that people alive today or in the memorable past would be familiar with.

If I started a thread asking about things you have in your home that young people wouldn't know about and then posted normal everyday things I'd be accused of being patronising and ageist.

@LubaLuca

It's not ageist regarding my mum either. She's not very old, just very unwilling to try things that are not what she's used to. For example, she'd never try coffee (although she likes the smell of it) because tea seems like a safer option. I know young people like this too.

She'd know what to do with coffee and tea though, the OP was asking about things they wouldn't know what to do with.

Love this thread!
My mother now 80 is pretty much up w all this now but just was not available when she was bringing up her young family.
My first Saturday job was in a greengrocers and there was no spinach, avocados etc in a provincial town in the 70s -it really eas all carrots/potatoes/iceberg lettuce. We are incredibly privileged now!

She wouldn't know how to make coffee though.

This is interesting, is it to do with children being generally more widely travelled/educated than their parents or something? It's not like that in my family, my mum's only in her 60's but she's still far wider travelled than me, lives abroad and is still the one who introduces me to new things. If I ever visited her house abroad (no money so unlikely) it would be me who would be quite lost on what to do with more than 5 things I expect.

If you want to do it the other way round, I get confused at my parents fancy coffee machine. Meanwhile, my mum won't drink my big standard filter coffee which she's never tried as apparently it would be too strong. Different strokes.