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Original poster

Nothing like a teenage daughter to keep you humbled…

444 replies

JamieOliverPetrolStation · 19/07/2026 20:45

I leaned into the culottes and polka dot trend this season and was delighted with this bargain in Sainsburys last week. I thought I looked great. Effortless and summery chic etc etc. Until 14yo DD looked up at me with withering disdain and asked why was I dressed like a Tombliboo.

We had a similar situation last year when I bought a striped teeshirt and they called me Bagpuss for the whole summer.

OP posts:
Dorothyperky · Yesterday 18:34

I know the thread is re DDs ( I have one of them) but my BFF is an expert at the fashion critique. On seeing me in a purple Max Mara boucle coat she asked if I was channeling Barney!
Never worn again.

SaferHaven · Yesterday 18:35

@BauhausOfEliott ‘is it just you or are we waiting for the rest of the battalion’ has absolutely killed me off. Brilliant.

worldshottestmom · Yesterday 18:41

My DS4 has appointed himself as my, and everybody else's, personal stylist. A few weeks ago was wearing some dark denim flares and he just comes to me and says, "ewww, no". 😐

Even better is when we visited his new primary school last week, was chatting to the head teacher and he starts tugging at her dress, shaking his head in disgust, repeating "no, no". He has ASD and is a boy of few words, but the words he does say really gets the point across. 😬

Goldenbear · Yesterday 18:50

BauhausOfEliott · Yesterday 17:12

I was born in the 1970s and we were absolutely not 'humble in the presence of any adult' 😂

Anyway, there's a big difference between being rude/unpleasant and joking around as a family. My family always did a lot of the latter. We still do. It's never mean-spirited and it's never hurtful. If I wore a pair of trousers with a checked pattern and my mum didn't sing 'Rupert, Rupert The Bear' I'd actually be disappointed. Similarly she would fully expect me to say 'All right, Alexis Colby' when she wears a bright jacket and large earrings.

Show quote history

I agree, teenager in mid 90s and I don't remember anybody standing up for teachers when they entered the room. I remember quite a few cheeky teenagers, our form room was a lab and the most disruptive boys were always playing with the gas taps. I remember lots of physical fights between boys, rolling around punching each other. Cheeky comments to teacher with accents that weren't from London basically my school was like Grange Hill!

JoshLymanSwagger · Yesterday 18:56

Teenagers fashion advice?

Look at pictures of yourself at that age.
Laugh at the pictures and then at your teenager.

Dress in what you want.

cowasballerina · Yesterday 18:57

@ThreeLocusts Behold my new username!

Cow Dancing GIF
soupmaker · Yesterday 18:57

DoraSpenlow · Yesterday 13:18

I once went into work wearing a very fluffy pink jumper and beige skinny jeans. My boss looked at me and said he had a sudden yearning for some candy floss.

He came in one morning in a long black leather trench coat. Later on one of his managers came in to ask if Herr Flick could spare him a few minutes.

I’ve just had to tell my DH why I’m snorting and crying with laughter. ‘Allo ‘Allo is beyond the comprehension of the teen DDs.

apokeyweeplace · Yesterday 18:59

Moroccocococo · 19/07/2026 21:54

This is hugely outing as I've told everyone I know but I'm not sure I care...

We were out shopping and I was wearing a velvet embroidered waistcoat with a cream boho shirt that had pretty massive sleeves and DD (12) said 'you're giving male tudor'.

Literally 5 minutes later, we were walking down the street and a really cool looking mid twenties woman stopped me and said 'omg! I love your outfit! Where did you get your waistcoat?'. I told her DD's comment and she said 'no Henry VIII vibes at all. You look sick'.

Later that day, after basking in the joy of this encounter for a while, my DD said to me 'I wish someone would stop me in the street to tell me I looked great'... So I offered to lend her my waistcoat and give her some style advice.

One of the best days of my life 😁.

Giving male Tudor. So funny. Spat my tea out.
All these kids are cruel, but so very funny 😂

Saltysweetspicy · Yesterday 19:06

chesterelly1 · Yesterday 16:14

I’ve remembered some of DD’s comments to DH, and feel better realising she doesn’t just single me out.
He had a very shiny polo shirt for golf that he’d sometimes wear off the course - she started saying “Let’s play daaarts!”, funnily enough I’ve not seen him wear it as much. Bottle green polo shirt and stone cargo shorts - “are you off to feed the bears?”. Recent holiday purchase of a T-shirt with a coat of arms of a military service of the country we were in, “Thank you for your service” accompanied by salute. She refers to all his trainers as “big bouncy fellas” and refers to his most repeated outfit as him being in cartoon character mode.

This sounds really tiresome

FoxRedPuppy · Yesterday 19:07

me and my sister used to sing East 17 every time my mum wore her white puffa coat. We were in our 30s and 40s. We have a very teasy relationship.

My dad used to sing Dexys midnight Runners when I wore dungarees 😂

Saltysweetspicy · Yesterday 19:10

YvieYfronts · Yesterday 13:41

This thread is excellent. My daughter, 6 years old, came after a few sons and it's been a sobering journey so far with her cutting feedback sometime.

While it can be brutal, I'm glad she feels confident enough to express herself (or so I keep telling myself! 😅)

See I just wouldn't allow this. At 6, or any age really, I was definitely teaching my DD not to comment on peoples appearances unless it was something nice. She might give the wrong 'feedback' to the wrong person one day.

Saltysweetspicy · Yesterday 19:10

Some of these are funny but a lot comes across as the kids being just plain rude brats

alondonerabroad · Yesterday 19:11

I once had a lovely lacy long cardigan in off white. It went to the charity shop after youngest said why are you wearing curtains?.

Gwenhwyfar · Yesterday 19:22

LittleArithmetics · Yesterday 16:29

This seems perhaps a bit extreme but I do wonder if there's been a generational shift of some kind. I was a teenager in the 90s and I don't remember having much in the way of opinions about my mum's clothing, either positive or negative. Obviously what she wore probably wouldn't have fit into my teenage definition of 'cool', but I wouldn't have expected it to as she was a different generation. I just don't think it's something that I noticed much.

But I also would have considered it rude to comment on someone's clothing even in a bantering way tbh.

Show quote history

When I was a teenager in the 90s my DM asked my opinion on her clothes all the time. Yes, there were generational differences, but of course I saw my mother as a person who dressed up nicely. She wasn't invisible to me. I do remember that I didn't always tell the truth...

ForDucksSake · Yesterday 19:23

LondonLass2026 · Yesterday 15:01

I agree with @Puppylucky.

I joke around all the time, but if I'd ever spoken to my mother like that, I'd have known about it! I guess it was different being young in the 90s. We knew our place. At school and at home we were taught to respect any elder. We used to have to stand up in class if any adult walked in. That sort of thing. We were humble in the presence of any adult on the way to/from school.

I've had gentle mocking as an adult from friends and colleagues, of course! In 2011 I experimented with green nail polish and a colleagues called me Grotbags, which I still laugh about to this day. 😁

My then-10 year old nephew was rude to his mother (my sister) in a similar way to op when they came to visit me a few years ago, and I told him off, which he took very well, and my sister looked grateful. I do think kids today are a little much, and too comfortable with their criticisms.

I'm a child of the 70s and my family always messed around with silly comments to each other. Never outside and never if we thought it would actually hurt feelings. We were a really close family and thrived on humour together. Everyone's family dynamic is different.

MySneakyLion · Yesterday 19:24

AImportantMermaid · 19/07/2026 21:56

Wore what I thought was a very cool rust coloured and yellow top until my DD told me I looked like a packet of smokey bacon crisps.

That is hilarious!!

ThreeLocusts · Yesterday 19:25

cowasballerina · Yesterday 18:57

@ThreeLocusts Behold my new username!

Oooh thanks @cowasballerina, will show my daughter!

LeaveMeBee · Yesterday 19:34

@GoddammitPrincess A pimp 🤣🤣

This thread has cracked me up. Needed a laugh, thanks all!

fivepastmidnight · Yesterday 19:36

some of these are hilarious. I had some loose fitting pants on because it was hot and they were elasticated at the ankle. I was going out for lunch with my son He said come on then Aladdin.
When he was younger, he also said to me you're not wearing that for parents evening are you?

Diamondsareforever72 · Yesterday 19:40

NImumconfused · 19/07/2026 21:48

About 2004 onwards, I think

There's a brilliant thread in classics about the gap between expectation and reality when it comes to clothes, something about Suzie Quattro's fat nan...

Show quote history

Exactly what I was thinking! That thread was absolutely hilarious!
The woman who said she looked like a silo 🤣

LeaveMeBee · Yesterday 19:46

Queenage · 19/07/2026 22:15

Came downstairs in my new navy and white striped wide leg trousers, daughter said “oooh mummy, you look lovely. Just like a big, fat, clown” 😩

😂😂😂

Diamondsareforever72 · Yesterday 19:57

SurvivalInstinctsOfABakedPotato · 19/07/2026 23:55

I can be a bit hippy, baggy tie dye trousers, band t and chunky cardis etc.
Had someone coming over from my work (which I dress very 'smart office') to view an item I was selling.

Son 14 asked how much I got for a gram these days and if dressing as swampy was what I was going for.
He looked mortified I wasn't going to change 'cos no one wants to buy from the dealers house'
Wouldn't mind but he speaks quite posh for where we live and made me question myself 😂🤦😂

Swampy 🤣

99RedBalloonz · Yesterday 20:02

Years ago when finances were tight and all my clothes usually came from charity shops, I bought a beautiful pale blue gingham coat in an actual shop. The children came home from school and I did them a twirl in the coat. DS age 7 said “oh you are so beautiful mummy. Just like a dinner lady.” I took it back the next morning.

Airyfairy77 · Yesterday 20:14

Oh OP thanks for the laugh 🤣🤣🤣 Tomliboo!!!!! I’m sure you looked very chic!!

failtegusslan · Yesterday 20:20

I had this the other way around. My teenage daughter asked me to open a parcel that arrived and confirm what was in it. I told her that a top had arrived for her. No mum, its a dress. Told her i'd looked at it and it was definitely a top (it was a very very short dress)

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