What is one thing your parents will never learn?

[TwoManyKids]

Light hearted!
My mum refuses to learn the difference between the WiFi and mobile data. She runs her data down at home (messing around with settings and accidently turning off wifi) and obsessively hounds waiters/baristas for WiFi codes when we are out! I keep telling her she is paying for data and she can use it!
What is something your parents can't get their heads around?
Also She'll also hopefully never learn it was me and now my sibling who dinged the car twenty years ago!

To vote for whoever you think is best AT THE TIME of voting. They are Tories for life, no matter how much/little they disagree with current policies. Because they always have done so, they cannot fathom changing to another affiliation. DH's parents are the same but with Labour.

The concept of voting differently over the years is just... alien to them.

Does what they look like actually matter, though? Surely comfort is paramount as far as footwear is concerned?

I don't think anyone has suggested that all old people are rubbish with tech. I'd agree that the thread was ageist if it asked "what is one thing old people will never learn?" But it's not, it's an individuald parents specifically, regardless of their age.

If it rankles perhaps start a similar thread but reversed... "what is one thing your children will never learn".

I recognise my parents in so many of these!
My mum doesn't trust online banking, will happily use telephone banking and order things online though.
Just because an opinion was in the Daily. Mail doesn't mean that is what most people think.
Similar to above, just because someone has different priorities in life or chooses to do something differently to them, it's not stupid, it's their choice. One example, my cousin got rid of her car so uses public transport to get to work. My dad thinks this is ridiculous. This one seems to be getting worse as they age!

Former fil has never used a cash point, mil does all that. He won’t use online banking because he thinks if he doesn’t then neither can the bank and his cash will be kept in a physical account.

Interestingly I don't think my older teens have ever used a cashpoint either. But whereas (presumably) your FIL has never used one because it's new fangled technology, the teens have never used one because they see cash as old fashioned.

My mum refuses to believe things have happened in the world..odd I know but if Phil n Holly or the loose women havent said anything its simply not true. The two programmes always tell the truth and life is full of rainbows and fairy dust. It drives me insane.She is positive Phil has gone on holiday and will be back soon to holly...Shes barmy.

This is my mum too. Conservatives are for rich people.Labour are for poor people and the Lib Dems are to be voted for if you cannot make a decision!

Exactly this!! And yet my parents are neither rich nor poor...

From an alternative PoV, I often wish my grandfather, who died in the early '00s, was still alive to experience today's tech.

He was an enthusiastic early adopter of almost everything and would particularly have loved smart phones.

I work in IT and every now and again think 'GF would have LOVED this' when I come across some new innovation.

How to say SOY sauce....she always says SOYA sauce 😂bugs me way more than it should!

My MIL - that she does need a hearing aid and everyone is not muttering.

That you can press a number higher than 4 on the TV remote and it won't do any harm.

In our house (widowed DM lives with us) it's more a case of 'there are numbers other than 10' as she's addicted to ITV3. Thank goodness she has her own living room. 😄

I just thought of another one after my mum and I had pizza for dinner earlier - that you can eat pizza without a knife and fork. 😄

That it’s okay to come second, not first, once in a while 🤦‍♀️🤷‍♀️ that life is not a competition with only winners and losers

@NoodleQueen90 "How to say SOY sauce....she always says SOYA sauce 😂bugs me way more than it should!"

She's not Australian is she?

@CurlewKate nope Scottish 😂

Whilst I understand what you are saying about your parents, yes I know we are annoying but please remember who changed your nappies, toilet trained you and wiped your bottom!🤪

My parents are great with any technology and keep up to date with it all (they're early 70s), but my mum has never filled a car with fuel. Ever. She's had her own car since she was 17, but she met my dad at 16 and he's always done it. She thinks she'll stop driving within 10 years, so no point in learning now.

Me also. My phone stays in the living room, no way am I going to cart it around with me. Shock, horror - I even go out without it sometimes!!!!!

My MiL won’t have a microwave. When I was weaning DC1 she asked me if I was happy for DC’s food to be exposed to the dangerous rays.

🤔

My mother will never ever use a computer or the internet believing that these not beneficial for society. No amount of illustrations of the positive benefits of computers will change her view on this. Ditto all parents using mobile phones - they are not paying attention to their children and therefore mobile phones are a very very bad item. She is 88.

It was therefore quite a moment introducing her to someone of 93 who uses an i-pad to communicate with their daughter, exchange e-mails, photos, etcetera. Her normal reaction would have been to criticise, but on this occasion she remained silent.

She is not stupid or incapable of learning to use a computer -she is just determined that she does not need one for day to day living and sees no benefit.

That she has cut herself off from enjoying all the interaction with family and friends does not count as relevant information.

She also refuses to pay things by Direct Debit and prefers to take cash out of the bank to pay bills or writes out a cheque. Increasingly her options for paying are shrinking.

She feels she is carrying on a fight for all those who cannot use the internet or adapt to modern life or are short of cash so cannot afford these things. It gives her plenty to complain about. Sometimes it can be very wearing listening to the constant criticism of how modern day life is lived by the majority of us.
However, I know that it keeps her strong (why have a tumble dryer when you can hang your washing out on the line every day) and motivated.

Bingo. I was actually interviewing a candidate for a job when my dad let himself in, and waved a bunch of grapes about at the door of my study until I acknowledged him. (I had flu.)

My otherwise savvy and sensible mother thinks that every spam email has been written and sent specifically just to her, from someone I potentially know. Nothing will dissuade her from this conviction.