To ask what's an adult problem that nobody prepared you for?

[Midge1978]

For me it's keeping the bathroom clean. I don't think I ever saw my mother clean hers but it was always immaculate and rosey smelling. I can't seem to keep on top of the mould monster in mine!

Having to decide what's for dinner every. single. day.

It's boring.

Love this threat.

How much work puppies are.

Life isn't a fairy tale

Life isn't fair

There are some very evil ppl in the world

Grade 4 brain stem tumour for my husband and a prognosis of 12-14months.

Wuss2018 I’m so sorry.

So sorry to hear that Wuss. Take care xx

Being an only child and having two parents with dementia, neither of whom ever acknowledged that it could happen (no NEED for POAs Lidl.... no NEED) or the impact it would have on my life when it did.

That you never really, truly have any free time. There's always something that needs doing, and however long you neglect it, at some point you will have to do it.

When I think of all the hours I spent hanging out in the garden reading or in the pub with friends in my teens... I had a lovely, carefree child/teenhood and I'm so grateful for that. Some days I would give anything to go back to it for a few hours.

That a wake at an Irish catholic funeral will have an open coffin. My friends and I, just barely out of uni, had to attend one of our uni friends funerals and not one of our parents gave us a heads up...

How much work is required for your children to not be feral beasts. I don't think I'm even aiming for well mannered anymore, just not feral.
That no one is magically going to sort your problems out. You either deal with them or learn to live it with them.
That everyone is, ultimately, selfish and, as they older, somehow more selfish as they have their DH & DC's interests to look after as well as their own.

@UniversalAunt, I came across FODMAP after 2-3 years of suffering and now I follow it, everything is pretty much under control! Thanks anyway.

It does make me feel sad being unable to eat watermelons and apples, but better than the alternative of holding in wind until I look 6 months pregnant....(sorry TMI)

I remember starting my first job being terrified there weren't going to be any windows nearby! I always thought "is it just me that has to deal with this?". Then again, if people have stomach issues I guess they aren't going to be quick to share them....

Literally everything.
I was kicked out at 16. Now 30 with a child and still wonder what the fuck I’m supposed to be doing every day.

That even in your 30s you still don't truly feel like a "grown up" and would still happily look for a grown up if someone asks

It was a shock to discover that many people get older but don't actually mature.

The some grown ups are wankers.

That hard work doesn’t necessarily pay off! I was at school in the 90s/00s and was led to believe that good grades and hard work would get me a great career, and that people who didn’t earn much were either stupid, didn’t try hard or both.

I know realise it’s mainly about learning to play a ‘game’ at work and having certain personality traits rather than working hard and being nice, which has come as a shock.

I also thought as a child that people’s lifestyle/house/car etc roughly reflected the jobs they did, whereas now I realise that having inheritance or money gifted by relatives are behind it a lot of the time - that or credit card debt.

None of them.

Had to learn it all on my own. And still learning

Once went on one of those ghastly away days and we had to bring a photo of someone who had loved and helped us.

My picture was of my darling girl dog.

Everyone else took pics of their parents.

Being married. That.

Constipation, most of the time. Despite lots of fruit and veg, a physical job and regular exercise. Oh, and prostate examination. Really? You want to what? Why? I'm pretty sure my dad didn't have that.

Responsibility. Actual life and death responsibility to others.

Consequences of our actions that don't kick in for 10 years. Moving 4hrs away from 'home' was a great idea at the time. Now the grandparents and parents are ageing and don't see enough of their grandkids and I feel I've robbed them all.

Also meal planning. Every. Livelong. Day

A distant relative dying and having to arrange everything. You have your Nan getting upset because she wants to do right. You have the dilemma of not knowing the relatives last wishes. Then you find a load of ashes (their mums, dads, husbands, dogs) and try to bury them all together.
(The undertaker was a star and added the dogs ashes to one of the urns for burial!)

A parent dying.

Kids. One with special needs.

That there isn't always a happy ending.

My 20s were a bit up end down but everything eventually had a "happy ending" - I passed my uni exams, eventually got a good job, found a flat I could afford to buy, I got married.

In my early 30s my husband left me with a small baby and for a while I still thought that somehow things would be ok. But not quite. I am financially ok so things could be worse but life is pretty relentless and lonely.

Not enough time left is a major problem.
Having to prioritise - hate this.
Apathy, learn from experience that passion and energy are not enough to equate change.
Loss of optimism and hope, much more realistic now.
Becoming emotionally hard as a coping mechanism.
I could go on and on but it’s depressing me!
On the other hand hated childhood, autonomy is a

Posted too soon!
Autonomy is awesome!!

Not quite fitting with the tone of the thread (This one is quite trivial.) but came as shock to me at the time anyway. That you have to do your bikini line. My mum didn't teach me anything about puberty, or self grooming. I discovered this truth whilst in a swimming session. Luckily it was ladies only, but still...

Reading glasses.

I don’t recall my parents using them until they were in their 60s.

Me? I’m in my 40s and can’t sign my bloody name without reading glasses.