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!

In the intended vein, OP, my mother is Swedish so my list is slightly different. She was quite familiar with central heating and sour cream and listening to your children, but she didn't really do alcohol (came from a part of the country inclined to teetotalism) and her spice range was pretty well limited to white pepper, bay leaves, and allspice, with oregano for festive occasions. I like to cook Indian food and have a well-stocked spice shelf. Her generation didn't really eat out either, unless you were travelling. Very little snack food: I first tasted crisps at school discos.

My mum is in her 70s and wouldn't know how to use the tech in my house but I'm struggling to think of something she wouldn't know what to do with. She's well travelled, has a microwave, cooks lots of different types of food. Used to cook Indian and Italian etc when we were children. She's aware of things like trainer socks as she plays sport (tennis etc).

She's crap with her mobile phone but again, you didn't ask about tech. Things like olive oil, we had olive oil as children. She travelled to Spain and France, Portugal etc, so she would have experienced lots of different types of food.

Quite mind boggling seeing some of these posts, at how much pps think their mothers would find alien.

My mother is French, is an excellent cook and baking her own bread etc has always been perfectly normal.
The number of posters saying their mothers wouldn’t know what to do with garlic is hilarious, and olives?!
I was fed these things all through my childhood in England, and very little of our veg was either frozen or came out of a tin (and I was born in ‘79.)

My mum is much better at kitchen gadgets, mixers etc than I am, although our induction hob was definitely unfamiliar to her.

She uses social media, computers, etc.

Essential oils
Hair straighteners
Nice fire
An Oodie
Dogs!

I agree, this thread is not ageist, just different.

My mum had many things in her house either back when I was growing up or now that I haven’t got.

Several sewing machines to do different jobs
Stamps - she saved up stamps to make money for charity
A pulley - oh I have pulley envy, would love one of those

I don't find the thread ageist in the least.

Our spices consisted of white pepper, salt and an array of baking spices and dried fruits. I have quite a lot of spice in my kitchen but I don't have any baking spices or dried fruits.

This thread reminded me that growing up, all our shopping consisted of whatever the local groceries,, butcher and newsagent shops stocked. We NEVER went to a supermarket.

The local shops were small and sold what local people wanted but obviously the stock was limited to availability and the size of the shop. This must have had a huge effect on what we were familiar with and what we ate. It was also a very expensive way to shop but there was a huge emphasis on buying local and supporting our neighbours. This seems to have come full circle again now which is great to see.

My mum tells the tale of her friendship groups reaction when her and my dad went out for pizza on a date in the 60s. It was seen as dead exotic and quite daring.

It's not so much that they wouldn't know what to do with these things now but how unusual things like olive oil would have been when they were bringing us up.

Pesto.

I've got a pulleymaid in my house

My mum is in her 70s and familiar with these things. She doesn't see the point in fresh chillis mind.

I agree that this list is odd. My grandad (born during WWI) loved olives for example. My Granny had trainer socks for when she walked the dog (because she said skin was easier to clean than fabric). Granny made her own sour cream...

I think my children would be far more bemused by the things my grandparents had than the other way round.

My mum is 78 and has all of the stuff in the op, probably moreso then me

Although when i was growing up in the 70s/80s cooking with garlic and spices didn't happen very often chez torque...

My mum is 74 but can’t think of anything that I have that she wouldn’t have. How old are parents?

@quarentini

The oven The hoover The microwave The washing machine The dishwasher

Did you grow up in a cave?

My 4 children and Me
Useless as a mother ,no better as a grandmother

My mum is 69 and we had the olive oil for your ears when I was growing up. Still now mum wouldn’t think of using olive oil in cooking. She and my dad can’t eat spicy food anyway because he has a bowel condition so they stick to the food of their youth hence we grew up on stews, casseroles, roast dinners etc. Some people aren’t super adventurous and stick to what they know. I didn’t eat hummus till I was 18 but I can bake a Victoria sponge from memory 🤷🏼‍♀️

My mum is in her 80s, I am in my 50s. A lot of things mentioned on here eg different oils we wouldn't have had in the house when I was growing up in the 70s but they had definitely made their way into my parents kitchen in more recent times .

My DM died 9 years ago. Had she been alive today,she would have been 94 this summer. She was totally at odds with modern technology of any sort,and there are numerous things in my home that she wouldn't have had a clue what to do with. The ones that spring to mind are my Smart TV,digital washing machine,mobile phone,iPad and and the control panel for the heating/hot water.

Mine is only in her early 60s so not much really. Though she wasn't educated she is self taught in many things. The only think is IT: she wouldn't know what do regarding homeschooling like what are jolly phonics or what is Microsoft teams or Google classroom.

@SirVixofVixHall

My Mum was born in 1935 and would have been familiar with all those things OP. Socks for tennis with no cuff but a pompom at the back to stop them slipping have been around since the late seventies . Olives often seen at dinner parties in the sixties and seventies, and sour cream used in recipes.

Well blow me - is that what the Pom Pom on the back of socks was for! Amazing!

My DM was only born in the late 1950s but has been dead for many years, if she magically came back to life and walked in the front door now I imagine she’d be very impressed with iPads, Alexa, and Amazon Prime and would be straight on them.

She probably wouldn’t have a clue what to do with my DC as she wouldn’t know who they were.

My mum is in her late 70s and she is from India. She hardly went to school as she was from a very poor family and her English is very poor. But put any gadget in front of her and she will master it within days. She uses social media, a pro at using the phone and tablet. She didn't know how to crochet, but few years ago she went on YouTube, and self taught how to crochet. Now she is forever making blankets and cardigans for the great grandkids. She even uses online banking.

How strange - all these older women who never watch cookery programmes (somehow, as there are millions of them) - or they would know about all these 'exotic' foods.

My DF who never cooked in his life and would be 100 if still alive was a great Ainsley Harriet fan.