My parents have become insufferable.

[PleasePleasePleaseDontProve]

I am really struggling with my parents. Both are mid-sixties, retired. It seems since retirement they have become quite bigoted, insufferable and insular in their viewpoints. Every time I meet up with them conversations revolve around:

• Illegal immigration / people on benefits / Reform and Nigel Farage. Essentially focussing around the latest GB news story (which they watch religiously).
• Their latest or ongoing health ailments and how poor, in their view, the NHS is.
• Unnecessary and rude descriptions to describe other people (could be random strangers) or people they know. For example, ‘our fat neighbour has put on tons of weight.’

I used to have a fantastic relationship with my parents, particularly my father, and I’m sure he wasn’t always like this. I’m starting to dislike meeting up with them as their attitudes seem to have changed towards life and people in general, and they constantly want to discuss the latest GB News story.

Has anybody else found this has happened to their parents?

It must come as a great relief to her.

Op aside from everythjng else if they are using the NHS a lot do you bit think they are in a position to critique it ?

My Dad's like this it's SO FUCKING DRAINING. Grumbling is literally all the conversation he has. He practically salivates over the Telegraph each day, searching for things to be outraged about. He's also staggeringly rude about random strangers. I think he thinks he's being edgy and "telling it like it is" but he just comes across as unpleasant.

😆

They will all be first in the queue for the will readings of course.🙄

The influence of the media should not be underestimated. They spend millions to push their agenda onto impressionable people.

My grandparents have read The Sun as long as I can remember as their main source of news. During Brexit, my gran made a comment that there were "too many of them coming over" in reference to Eastern Europeans. My gran is a Black woman born in Jamaica who emigrated in the 1950s as part of the Windrush generation 😔

I stopped buying the guardian when it became a parody of itself. It’s like the socialist worker, but for 25 year olds. Just unreadable.

Absolutely agree about the NHS. It’s dire and not fit for purpose. I think younger people don’t need to use it so much so are oblivious to how crap it really is. As you get older and also have friends and elderly parents using it, it becomes pretty apparent how bad it is. I also have opinions on immigration that sound like they might align with theirs. I don’t insult people though, so looks like two out of three for me! Not 60 yet either.

I think this is spot on, but I dont think it is just the older generation - we are all more likely to be in a news bubble of things we select to listen to - left or right. We are much less exposed to fair and balanced journalism and debate than we used to be and there is lower tolerance all around.

@Sewingbeedamned I agree.

My very overweight Mum makes lots of nadty comments about people's size

oh, the irony……

If they talk about this stuff all the time, that sounds tedious and frustrating. On the other hand, it's perfectly legitimate to have serious concerns about both the NHS and immigration.
What do they do with their time? And do you do have time to do interesting things with them - maybe go to the theatre or to a museum - to help them to have more to talk about and to enjoy life more? Can you encourage them to join a book club or choir, and to do some volunteering? Maybe a short trip abroad together to enjoy a different culture? It sounds as though they're becoming old before their time.

Same here. Very draining.

Well my sil is polish and said the same thing and she said our gov was mad. She said back home in Poznan babies were getting child benefit and they had never been here. We thought she was mistaken .
Then it all came out the shambles what Blair precided over and the conversations and such came out.

👏 and quite frankly so do many of the posters on here.

Yes

What does NGS mean?

Isn't it. The way we are heading we will be a communist state.

Yep. And media has gotten worse and worse over the years.

I don't think critical thinking was taught when a lot of these people were at school, at least not in the same way.

My own parents never went to uni, and I don't think really understand how the media tries to sway their opinions.

About racist old people? Yes absolutely. Not comparing my wine holiday was too wine-y

Disagree. It's genuinely upsetting to see your dear ones get so wound up and constantly bothered in later life. Before shit-stirring and fear-mongering disguised as news became a thing, they might have been mildly critical about the local shopkeeper being rude, the erratic bus service, the town hall clock being 10 minutes out - without it becoming such a distressing emotional condition that prevents them being happy and content later in life. Measured, thoughtful, unbigoted decency is not a left wing thing. Their concerns are being exploited and amplified by cynical grifters for clicks, views & votes and it's making them miserable.

My parents were 88 and 89 when they died and they weren't like that at all, and I like to think I have followed their footsteps.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

'My own parents never went to uni, and I don't think really understand how the media tries to sway their opinions.'

Wow. Hopefully they understand how awful you are about them.

Oops, lovely autocorrect again…NHS! OP said the parents complain about everything including the NHS - that’s the only thing my parents don’t complain about!