What’s your biggest parenting disappointment?

[okydokethen]

Light hearted as you wish.

Mine is dinner time. Years of fussy eating, trying to offer healthy, nutritious tasty meals. I even went on a cookery course, but age 11 and 14 dinner time can still give me the rage. I largely cook what they want within reason, DD14 is much better at healthier food options. But you can guarantee, they sit down, one or both will question or complain about the food, bicker with each other or just not eat, or be sneaking a look under the table at a device…they eat largely in silence too.

It genuinely really disappoints me!

Their father.

@GoldDusterI get that!

@GoldDusteri was going to say the exact same thing. Everything else is easy in comparison!

Yep was also my immediate thought. The father.

Definitely their father, who managed to hide his true personality and proclivities for over 20 years. They're done with him now.

Yeah, dinner time for me too. Visions of the four of us sitting round the table every evening chatting about our days, it didn't work out like that. DCs are neurodivergent, DH and I have some traits, one DC has fairly extreme food issues related to autism, both find the eye contact thing of sitting round the table difficult, DH is not naturally very chatty either. I cannot for the life of me just sit and eat in silence, I either have to be chatting or reading, always been the same. Add into the mix a lot of evening activities for all of us as the DCs have grown up and the end result is that we tend to have at least one person cook something different and we often sit separately to eat (eg one at the breakfast bar, two in the garden (we have two tables), one in the dining room. We do all go out for a meal together sometimes and manage the chat then, but at home it just doesn't really happen and it's not for want of trying on my part. But at least I can read in peace with my meals if there is no one else at the table with me and everyone gets fed, so it could be worse. We chat other times instead when there is less eye contact pressure.

The father, absolutely.

Helping with studying. I loved schoolwork - I had zero input from my parents.
Here I am, happy to sit and listen/ support/ explain. My dc has a meltdown when I mention homework.

@ExtensivelyDecoratingim not alone!

@puddingandsun- and you’re willing! Not fair