Can you imagine in your wildest dreams that I like prawns at age 37, even though I hated them as a child? My mother can not.

[OrangeAid]

My mom is an odd-bod.

It seems beyond her comprehension that people change as they get older, particularly as they move from children to adults.

Last night I told her I was having prawn curry for tea. She was genuinely shocked to the core that I eat prawns because I never used to like them.

I've always liked prawns, says I.
Nope, she says. And then recounts a story from when I was nine years old and I tried a prawn and didn't like it.

A while back, my dog was sick from both ends at the same time in the kitchen. I was telling my mom about the military operation to clean up and she was, again, really shocked that I did it because I was so squeamish when I was younger. I was lost for words. I mean aside from the fact there's no other option (I'm not just going to leave the kitchen covered in dog vomit and shit), I'm not the same person that I was when I was twelve.

Anyone else's mom or dad like this? She's otherwise a perfectly normal human being!

I had a friend at school who was a really picky eater at the age of 11 or 12. All she would eat was plain chicken and pizza, and my mum used to always dread her coming round for tea because she found it hard to cater for her (we weren't allowed pizza for some reason). Now we're in our 40s and my friend will eat pretty much anything, because she grew out of her juvenile eating habits as children do. But my mum is still amazed if I mention that we went out for a curry or to a French restaurant where we had rare steak. "I would never have thought I'd hear about X eating onion bhajis/anchovies/mussels! She was such a fussy little thing at school."

My mum does this, yes. Very frustrating.
But also, it seems, do her friends.
She recently had a big birthday party and I networked and chatted the day away. Several of her old friends, who haven't seen me since I was at primary school, said: "I can't believe you're talking to me. You were always SO shy". Yep, but I'm 40 now though, with a lovely husband and friends and a successful career in business development!

Mum also has no interest in my friends now, but constantly brings up people I can't remember from 30 years ago.
"I turned the corner and you'll never guess who was there. Tom Pratt's mum!".
Who's Tom Pratt?
"He was in the year above you at primary school."
I've never heard of him.
"Yes remember, his sister was Charlotte".
Sorry mum, no idea who you're talking about.

Oh yes my Mum is definitely like this, and the opposite way in that she's convinced I like stuff that I never have but she does.

Every Christmas and birthday it's jewellery and hotel Chocolat, both things that SHE loves but I'm not remotely bothered by. I can't tell you how much untouched jewellery I've given to charity after it's gathered dust in my drawers for years.

Another one is fixating on something she's decided I like and going overboard. Last year I posted a picture on social media with a big wicker puffin sculpture near us. Christmas from her and most of the extended family was puffin related items... 'because you love puffins' 🙄

Over the years It's been flamingos, puffins, sloths (in fairness I do like sloths) but never ever hummingbirds, which I genuinely adore.

Mum also has no interest in my friends now, but constantly brings up people I can't remember from 30 years ago.
"I turned the corner and you'll never guess who was there. Tom Pratt's mum!".
Who's Tom Pratt?
"He was in the year above you at primary school."
I've never heard of him.
"Yes remember, his sister was Charlotte".
Sorry mum, no idea who you're talking about.

Oh god and this ALL THE TIME. Constantly catching me up on the news about people I haven't seen for 30 years and could not care less about. 'Oh you remember Gavin, he was sat 2 up from you on the summer fayre float when you were 6, his Mum used to be the lollipop lady in the next village' 🤯

The worst bit is that I'm reasonably private (without the tenuous MN shield of anonymity) and I know she's telling them every little detail of my life in return. I'm surprised they don't hide when they see her coming.

@ThisIsACoolUserName 😂 Oh yes! My mom does this as well with people she knows but that I don't.

I don't think she could name a single one of my current work colleagues. She has no idea what DP's mom/dad/brother/sister/niece/nephew are called but she'll regale me with tales of completely random people I've never met, but whose lives I'm meant to remember minor, ridiculous details about.

Be grateful

I said to my grown up, moved out, totally independent son "hold mummy's hand" at a busy road.... 🤦‍♀️

Yes this is definitely a thing with a certain type of person. I don't know if they genuinely can't believe it or like to make a fuss. So annoying though!

My dad. Once you did something once, that became The Thing you do.

When I was 17, I made a cup of tea before a driving lesson. I underestimated how long it would take me yo drink before the instructor arrived, so I left half a cup. Once. One time.
in the intervening years I have made and finished hundreds, possibly thousands, of cups of tea. But it was always “Why are you making tea, you never finish it” “Would anyone like a tea? Paperwhite will you actually finish it for once”

I miss him

My dad was also often shocked that I can afford things. Probably because I was a school child and then a student before I was a grown up. When me and my flatmate got a Virgin package when we were about 24 (in our rented flat that we paid for with money from our jobs) he couldn’t understand how we could afford it. It was about 20 quid a month back then!

Later in my 20s I was telling him about a holiday I’d booked. “How can you afford that!?” Umm, you know when I go drive about in an ambulance for 12 hours at a time several times a week? I don’t want to shock you, but they actually pay me for that.

My mother still does the whole shocked horror face at me being out of bed at 8 in the morning when we stay with her. Because as a teenager I committed the heinous crime of sleeping a lot. I do wonder what she thinks I do with my 5 year old when we're at home, he's not a late riser.

Never had my mother remark but just wanted to say...Also prawns for me. I was at a wedding and it seemed to go on for bloody hours. By the time the food came my 3 year old son and I felt starving and we could have ate a scabby horse. We both ate the prawn cocktail. That was 23 years ago and we have loved them ever since!

My mum does this.. With.. Everything.

This thread had helped as I thought it was just her.

Examples.. I don't know how to load a washing machine because I overloaded it a couple of times when I was younger. I don't like museums or history because I didn't want to go to one on holiday as a moody 14 Yr old. I don't know how to put makeup on properly because I had a tide mark aged 15.

It is frustrating but also, it's indicative of her. She judges and likes to hold it against you. 🙄

Well into my 40s/50s whenever I was cutting up a butternut squash, my dad would always hover at my elbow telling me to be careful because the knife was sharp....

I wish there was a like button for the turkey babies ❤️

My mum could not understand why I didn’t have sunflowers in my wedding bouquet because I had a vase of them at university !
over 20 years later

Yep, exactly this! Both my very adult children (40 & 42 respectively) revert to type once they’re under my roof together. For some reason, I do it too and run round like a blue ar*ed fly servicing their every need. Family eh?

I still instinctively grab my daughter's hand when we're crossing a road.

She's 27. 🤦🏻‍♀️

My grandad always made my cup of tea very milky when I stayed with him. I prefer it very strong (builders tea)

Because I had asked for it milky once (aged 4).

Just one of his "things" that I really miss.

Omg this thread has made me laugh and cry, this is my dad, i thought it was an autistic thing cause he gets sooooo locked in to his perceptions of people.

One day he was at my house and i looked out at the bird feeder and said “oh look theres a robin” and he looked at me incredulous and said “how do you know that, you have never had an interest in birds” i mean WTF?!?

Whenever we eat out he always makes a fuss that i eat “fancy” things cause i never used to - well you didnt really get sushi or butternut squash easily when i was a child!!

There was one year I nearly broke him cause i got a tattoo and a cat (he doesnt like either so i assume he had assumed i didnt either despite never having asked me). He wrote me a very solemn email saying he didn’t feel like he even knew me any more. I was baffled.

My dad is surprised that I eat vegetables now, I'm 50.

My mother is baffled that I, as a 44-year-old grown woman, now regularly eat spring onions BY CHOICE, in spite of the ongoing battle we had between the ages of approx. 9-12 yrs (me, not my mother, obvs), when she tried LITERALLY EVERYTHING to make me eat spring onions, including hiding them in mashed potatoes.

I have tried pointing out to her that perhaps it worked?

When I was at high school, we had a brown uniform. I made a comment when I was about 16 that once I left school I was never going to wear anything brown again. 25 years later, my parents still bring it up. “But those shoes are brown!? You said…” 🙄

Were we classmates? I said exactly the same thing!

My 1970's school uniform was bottle green, and I vowed to never wear that colour again. So far, I have kept my word.😂

Once as I child I forgot to look when crossing the road home from school and got knocked down by a car. In the intervening 33 years despite no further road crossing incidentss I am forever reminded by DPs that I am unable to cross a road safely 🙄