Things you can’t believe your teenager doesn’t know

[Annoyingwurringnoise]

My teenage DS, who went to a Church of England primary school, does not know the song Little Donkey. I am utterly perplexed as to how this can possibly be. He’s been a donkey twice in nativity plays, once at preschool and once at school, but he swears he doesn’t remember Little Donkey.

What things have you found out your teenagers don’t know that’s just left you scratching your head in disbelief?

That my teenager thought everyone in the UK learnt Welsh at school (he did, but we live in Wales)

and that Putin was the king of Russia

My son learnt quite quickly that it was unwise to make a good cup of tea. He doesn't drink hot drinks of any sort, I like strong tea, which he knows. Some of the warm milk which is slightly more tea coloured than plain water and milk were disgusting, so I didn't ask him (for years!) to please make me a cuppa.

They don’t know how to read or write cursive.

My 18 year old didn't know what the "numbers" meant on the big signs outside the petrol station. He thought it was something to do with the quality / purity of the petrol and seemed genuinely confused when I told him it was the price per litre.

the youngsters in my team at work did not know the song knees up mother brown
They also confused Barry Manilow with Rod Stewart!!!

I can’t believe my dc 20 and 18 can’t change a toilet roll!

To be fair, neither of those are exactly 'core' knowledge!

My university educated kids did not know what a font was. (As in church). One offered to Google it for me and the other explained about different styles of letters. The manager of the de consecrated church, to whom I posed the original question, had no idea either.

He was a young child in a nativity, so why would he remember it?

🤣
the black plastic ones can be a nightmare. saying that I just pop mine roll on top of the shelf and keep the rest in a basket - TMI?!

I've never heard of Knees Up Mother Brown and I'm 42! 😂

I don't know the words to that song. And I am not a youngster

DS definitely knows that as I keep complaining about it

So - how does he like his pizza?

So - how DOES he like his pizza??

It's a good name for a castle.

But why should she know the name of a racing driver from the 1950s?

I also didn't know who Stirling Moss was. Some are too old/obscure/niche.

DD is 19, she regularly astounds me with things she’s never heard of / doesn't know.

She didn’t know houses had to be insured, just thought that if you had a fire or flood you simply replaced it all yourself.

Never heard of the Christmas Carol o little town of Bethlehem.

Shes a junior in a media type job and regularly writes briefs for fairly famous people. Most of them she chats to on the phone first and then tells me she’s never heard of them before. Rory Bremner was the latest 🤣

when my son was in his first year at Uni, he came home for Christmas and was surprised to find there were no ripe tomatoes in our U.K. garden. He thought they grew and cropped all year round - even when the weather is snowy or frosty.

Never mind teenagers, my DD who was around 23 at the time - she of the 1st class masters degree etc - thought Robins only came out at Christmas- because they appear on Christmas cards. I was rolling on the floor with laughter with that one!

DD 13 doesn’t know the Lord’s Prayer or the national anthem. She has good general knowledge but has never been taught them at school. Things have definitely changed since my day!

Am surprised my 10 years old does not know the national anthem. They don’t sing it in school, am I to teach him? I don’t know it myself 😂 am not originally from the Uk.

I still can sing my original country anthem and am almost 42. 😂😂

Thing is though, and not just with religion but pretty much any topic, parents won't necessarily know what their children have or have not been taught at school.

DH and I were staggered when, during the 2012 Olympic Games, our teenage dd asked what the tune was they were playing when they gave out the medals. She had no idea what the National Anthem was, let alone any of the words.

deep and crisp and even.

Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen
Where the snow lay round about
Deep and crisp and even.

A 30 year old student of mine, with 2 children, genuinely didn’t know that cows produce milk primarily to feed their calves and not just as an automatic ‘cow function’. She was absolutely disgusted that she’d been drinking ‘stolen cow breast milk’ all her life.