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Original poster

Did anyone else grow up thinking they hated things just because their parents hated the thing?

100 replies

AintNobodyHereButUsChickens · 26/03/2023 22:08

Cats, growing up, my parents were VERY vocal about hating cats. So I grew up thinking I hated them too but never really thought about why. Then one day when I was a teenager, DH (then BF) took me to meet his aunt and I also met her cat who was a lovely thing. I sat there and thought about why I hated cats, and I came to zero conclusions. It slowly dawned on me that I didn't hate them after all, I actually really like them! We're hoping to get a cat at some point this year and I can't wait 🙂

Jack Russells, my parents were also pretty vocal about really disliking them too, "Horrible yappy things" and the same with cats. I always thought I didn't like them too until I actually thought about why I didn't and came up with no answer.

Meatloaf (musician, not food)
Queen (band, not the Queen)
Ford cars, both my parents despised them, my dad probably still does but my mum is now on her second Ford and she loves it, me and DH are also on our second Ford and it's definitely our favourite car we've ever had so far!

Anyone else?

OP posts:
AlexCabot · 27/03/2023 07:24

Strangely, DH and I we're having this exact conversation yesterday. His parents have some very fixed ideas, here is a list of things he grew up being told were only for "stuck up and snobby people".

Restaurants
Libraries. Books and reading in general but libraries were apparently terrible places.
Abroad
Wine
All fruit except bananas
All vegetables except potatoes carrots and swede
The BBC
Voting
Further education
Any and all non manual labour jobs
Driving
Parents evening (!)
Newspapers. News in general (TV, radio) but especially papers
Pets
Foreign food-pasta was included in this
Comedy in all forms.

The wider world was a revelation for DH when he left home!

Stugs · 27/03/2023 07:26

Totally the opposite. Grew up with parents who hated lots of things and it was such a miserable way to live I was always determined to like everything!!

Annietheacrobat · 27/03/2023 07:26

Canada. My mum always said that it was the most dull country in the world. She's never been.

Bagpuss2022 · 27/03/2023 07:31

Cheese my mum detests it so grew up with the same fixed ideas of it being stinky and tasted like sick etc. mid 40s now still can’t stand the stuff

worried4698643 · 27/03/2023 07:34

Cruises.

they were just hotels stuck in the sea. Boring, expensive and not a real holiday etc.

Quickly changed my mind when I reluctantly went in a cruise.

Just to add my parents have never been a cruise, so I assume our family view actually comes from grandparents !

BelindaMelinda · 27/03/2023 07:43

Totally the opposite. Grew up with parents who hated lots of things and it was such a miserable way to live I was always determined to like everything!!

Snap. I can't think of any strong dislike I have that has come from my parents.

LolaO · 27/03/2023 07:47

Absolutely every type of (what my mother describes as) “oriental food”, which for her not only encompasses Chinese cuisine of all types, Japanese cuisine of all types, Sri Lankan food, Malaysian food, but also anything which includes noodles, or soy sauce, or bean sprouts, or tofu. Was told it was ALL (without exception) “salty, slimy and will make you ill”. I can only assume she had a bad experience with a Chinese takeaway in the 70s or something?!

guess what DH and I eat rather a lot of now…

redrumclub · 27/03/2023 07:47

Butter

My mum was on a permanent diet so bitter was the food of the devil and it was flora all the way. I always wondered why I hated roast at home but loved it in cafes/hotels etc until I started my first job in a hotel and realised it was because everywhere used proper butter!

redrumclub · 27/03/2023 07:48

Argh butter and toast that should say!

oakleaffy · 27/03/2023 07:49

Yes!
Dogs.
Parents were very anti dog.

I don't like bad mannered or untrained dogs, or dog aggressive ones, but well mannered , quiet, sweet natured ones are lovely.

PureGoldLeaf · 27/03/2023 07:51

Margaret Thatcher and melons.

Chilloutsnow · 27/03/2023 07:51

Yes because parents are god when you’re little. What they say is your truth, the only truth. It’s nice to wake up as an adult.

LefttoherownDevizes · 27/03/2023 07:52

When DH and I got together there first time he met my family D(step)Mum insisted we play U or non U

i have since realised as an adult the amount of effort she must have spent being ‘U’ must have been exhausting.

Biggest one I love but was brought up to hate /sneer at its caravan holidays, love the bingo, entertainment whole shebang.

see also:
ready made food of any kind
package holidays
sports clothing
use of many words (sometimes say lounge just to see her )
the north
north wales - now that was a revelation when DH finally persuaded my to go
calling parents mum and dad (was always encouraged to call them by their names but my siblings didn’t)
not judging people (especially by their jobs, all DCs friends who live in massive houses on the whole are builders or other trades)

i have always tried to be more open minded than she (who believes herself to be be other than judging where she had come from) but it’s amazing how much is so engrained

I will always hate Spurs though, sorry

oakleaffy · 27/03/2023 07:52

redrumclub · 27/03/2023 07:48

Argh butter and toast that should say!

🤣 ''Roast''...I was thinking ''Do people put butter on roasts?}

Agreed...Proper butter {has to be salted} is magnificent.

Waitrose do a particularly lovely one from France , in a semi roll shape rather than a rectangle with sea salt crystals in it.

moosel · 27/03/2023 07:53

My uncle made us kids put our thumbs down out the window to caravans on the motorway. We had no idea why, I still go to to it 30 years later and have to stop myself 😂 (no hate towards caravans)

cushioncovers · 27/03/2023 07:53

Cats
The Labour Party

SingaporeSting · 27/03/2023 07:57

Disney
Nice gentle women / SAHMs
Being a mum / Liking your own children

Ok so I totally get some of Disney’s misogynistic stuff, but honestly taking the kids to Disney when they were 4 and 6 was just lovely. It was a few months after my lovely dad died after a horrible terminal illness, and totally the tonic we all needed.

Nice, soft, gentle people were positioned to me as weak and meek, and quite frankly pathetic. Women in particular. That it was wrong to want to be a SAHM and totally doing yourself an injustice if you didn’t want a career.

I also heard so many stories about how hard parenting was, and how difficult I was as a baby. And I never felt very liked, so it was a real shock to me to realise that it was possible to really like your children. I knew that you’d love them, but liking them was a pleasant surprise.

I have my DM to “thank” for the above.

IHeartGeneHunt · 27/03/2023 08:21

My mother hates so many things that I rebelled quite young and tried/learnt about everything I could. For example, she hates:
Female TV presenters
Fat people (especially women)
Salt
Chilli
Ginger
The English
Non white people
Fried food
People on holiday
American anything
Caravans

So she inadvertently led to me being a lot more open minded than she is.

Wedoronron · 27/03/2023 08:37

My parents:
Religion (you have to be a little bit stupid to actually believe in it)
Fat people (bit unfortunate about their daughter!)
Takeaways (waste of money. I didn't have a takeaway until I left home possibly too many: see above).

DHs parents
Anyone from Scotland, Liverpool or Yorkshire.
Anyone gay or not white (apart from people they knew who were great, just the rest of them 🙄. Now have 2 gay Grandchildren and are getting a bit better).
Cats (we've had loads of them)

My children will say:
Fabric conditioner (makes me gag)
Leeds FC (from DH)
KFCs (bleugh)

Stugs · 27/03/2023 08:40

My mother hates so many things that I rebelled quite young and tried/learnt about everything I could

Me too @IHeartGeneHunt

D20 · 27/03/2023 08:43

MIL believed her children did not like any kind of seasoning in food (salt, pepper, chilli or garlic) so DH had a revelation when I served him a curry. She still doesn’t season food and he’s nearing 50 and hasn’t lived at home for 30 years.

Bodybags · 27/03/2023 08:45

Pretty much everything in the whole world, not just dislike or distaste but venomous hatred of just about everything and everyone.

My mother especially was/is a bitter dislikable hater of everything from slugs in the garden to all dogs/cats/foods/celebrities/neighbours of hers/all of our relatives/ weeds/shops/ you name it, she hates it.
Consequently, my siblings are similar but less aggressive.

Im too lazy to be that hateful and quite like everything and everyone.

Sillysheep · 27/03/2023 08:47

Meat, was raised vegetarian.
Eating anything that wasn't quorn or oven chips.
Liking sports
Fitting in

Ohhmydays · 27/03/2023 08:48

Mydaughterskeeper · 26/03/2023 22:30

I’m very conflicted about fabric conditioner. I grew up hearing about how unnecessary it was and the ‘overpowering smell’ but now I find myself sniffing and stroking other peoples’ laundry. Haven’t mustered the courage to buy any yet though.

@Mydaughterskeeper it comes in handy for using as a kind of fabric freshner too :) i like to mix some in a squoosh bottle with water and spray the carpets, cushions, curtains, bed’s anything material lol makes the house smell lovely and fresh. Dp even adds some to the mop bucket 🤦🏽‍♀️🤣

StayGoldenPonyGirl · 27/03/2023 08:54

liveforsummer · 26/03/2023 23:38

Tory party - they were right though!

Opposite here...my parents vote Tory (despite being working class immigrants who lived in near poverty in the 80s 🙄) and I was told to vote for them too and I loved Maggie because I was told to. Rebellion was a bit late, but it did come! We don't talk about Brexit.