outnumbered is back tonight - final series - they're all grown up!

[nipersvest]

here i know its not everyones cup of tea but we like it.

I work for a garage, you wouldnt get fresh fruit juice while waiting there, just a coffee you have to make yourself.
However there is so much we can relate to. My ds is 18 in the same year as Jake. He started secondary school with Jake, he is applying for uni this year, although he was a little bit better at getting his ucas application off. This week he lost his train pass. It is in a safe place apparently, he has seen it since he came home from visiting gf at her uni last weekend. Guess where that safe place turned out to be, down the side of his GF bed 50 miles away

My dcs are always losing stuff, in my small office there are 3 of us with similar age teens, we all have the texting dramas, but we dont have to pretend to be professionals at work we are all in the same boat.
We have had the key dramas and ended up having to change the locks and ds had put the key in the flowerpot for dd, who had forgotten hers and by the time we got home it was missing.

DH goes round the house complaining about the lights left on.

Ha ha now I do go around complaining about the lights even pre-teen !

YY laughed at the use of phones for the video conference.

I remember being stuck in a work meeting when my teens were stranded (school had flooded so they all were told to go home) and only one of them had a key and DH was away on a business trip - all that furtive texting trying to sort them out.

Karen(who just has to be based on my daughter) and the head teacher were absolutely hilarious.

I didn't like last night episode as much as the previous ones mainly because of Sue but I think Ben is adorable. He reminds me of my son at times.
I think though this series has been better than the last series probably because we have teens and can relate to everything.
If I added up how much I have spent on keys in the past few years I could have bought myself a very very expensive piece of jewellery.

This series of Outnumbered seems real enough to me as a mum of 2 teens similar in age to Jake and Ben. As parents we are not as inept (I hope) and I have DD not DS and no younger Karen so some of the issues do not occur.

They each have keys, if they lose them/forget them they either have to sit outside/in the garage or hope that their aunt (lives 3 streets away) is in. We have only had to change the locks once.

I have been in meetings and receiving texts/calls but I do try to be professional and turn the phone off, this backfired on me when my DD1 decided to be unwell at school but fortunately as it is a senior school she was able to give alternative numbers to the office to call and her aunt was able to sort her out.

I hide my Oyster card, they don't use theirs regularly so if they are going to need them I start reminding them to find them at least a day in advance.

I'm taking a career break at the moment and both DDs and DH seem to think that this means I am now available errands so my life is a constant stream of collecting parts, taking cars to garages and of course managing the parental taxi service fine when it runs smoothly, not so good when you are across town in the pouring rain and DD misses the bus, so I really felt for Pete yesterday.

Based on all this I am dreading my DC's becoming teenagers!

Burma don't worry despite all the stress and worry they can still be wonderful at times.

The mother in this really annoys me, she's so ditzy. All that fuss about a secondary school age child maybe having to wait outside for an hour or so because she has forgotten her key. Why can't she go to the local library or coffee shop for a while. Neurotic women who fuss over nothing and pretend to be mummy martys do my head in.
The teenagers are OK, and fairly sane considering their parents. Loved the head teacher with attitude.

yes I agree with that Rebecca.

The last episode of Outnumbered was just pathetic. The mum is the most annoying and hyper mum ever. Who leaves an important meeting to answer and make 101 useless calls? And the Dad was worse; acting like an incompetent child who can't do anything without ringing mummy all the time.

Every single character was totally unbelievable and completely irritating. Jake is an idiot, Mum and Dad are rubbish at teaching their children and type of good manners and responsibility and the no teacher would talk to a child like that especially if a child had actually produced such a brilliant complaint. All typed up too.

Why am I watching this unrealistic and irritating crap?

Yes me too, I was wondering why she was so worried about Karen having to wait outside for a little while, she's not a baby. As for Jake, he's got legs hasn't he? My dd (also 18, today in fact!) accidently got on the wrong bus yesterday and had to get off when she was still miles away from home. She didn't have any more money so she walked the rest of the way.
I actually liked Ben in this episode and I usually find him very irritating. Loved the bit where he took the phone call about the fuel bills!

I thought the bit with Karen and the Head teacher was really stupid. It just wouldn't happen like that in real life.

If dh kept phoning me in that pathetic way instead of sorting things out himself I'd probably switch the phone off whether i was at work or not!

I thought bits of it were realistic - I have teens and we have issues with lost (and borrowed) oyster cards and keys and them being locked out and phoning me at work. I hope I would never be as unprofessional as the mother, but I have had conversations in my open plan office with the children/au pair/husband about arrangements.

Ben reminds me of my son a little bit as well.

I hope my H wouldn't be as useless as that though.

Gahhh I just started another thread about this, I searched and couldn't find a thread on Outnumbered and just realised that it doesn't have a capital in the thread title, that must be it!! Not sure how to delete the other one, will just let it slowly die.

ANYWAY, I've never posted about Outnumbered before despite having seen every episode, but last night's was ridiculous. The parents were truly awful. I know that's the joke - how incompetent they are - but come on. Sue? FFS. There have been flashes in previous episodes where the parents' submissiveness to their children has bugged me - like when Karen and Ben were little and doing that improv stuff and the parents - somehow - couldn't get a word in edgeways.

Surely Karen could wait outside her house for a while - or get the key from the plant pot? Or go to a friend's house? Ben was the only bright spark in the episode and he's normally fairly annoying. Actually getting less annoying as he gets older. I didn't like the patronising manner of the head teacher, all that smarmy smiling when actually saying something mean.

Phew. Got it all off my chest!

I am afraid like many on this thread, I found this episode realistic. Its often sod's law when arrangements fall apart, its the one day you are really tied up at work - I know one of my DC at 11 years old would not want to wait in a cafe on her/his own. Their secondary school is miles away so not possible to walk to without crossing a dual carriageway.

Also Karen didn't have any friends to go to...

DS1 is 14 and constantly losing keys & Oyster card. It drives me crazy!

I thought the bit with Karen and the Head teacher was really stupid. It just wouldn't happen like that in real life.

I'm to say at Karens age I did a similar thing, in that I wrote a petition and got people to sign it - mine was a complaint re bullying at school. (I was right by the way! But that's not the point! ). I had a similar meeting with my head of year who used similar tactics, telling me how upset the head teacher was with my views and persuading me I was wrong and to put it in the bin myself so that 'I wouldn't get in any more trouble'.

In hindsight I was a distressed kid crying out for help and the teacher was an unprofessional bitch who then bulled me for the remainder of my school career.

It's not how good teachers behave. It's not I imagine how many teachers behave in 2014. But Rebecca Front, the writers and directors are pulling on experience of schools older than mine ifyswim.

I'm not sure that the head teacher scene wouldn't have been like that. I can't see school governers being interested in an umpteen page list of trivial complaints by a first year pupil and suspect they would just ask the head to try and sort it out.
Karen is supposed to have no friends and does seem to think she's "special" although she is portrayed as fairly normal in this series which makes the plot line unrealistic. If she was really being superior and refusing to sit next to everyone she'd be more like the girl who came round for tea personality wise. I'm not sure why her parents think she is clever if she's doing poorly in her tests and thinks there's hope for a hamster that's been under the floorboards for 2 months either. It's all just silly. Ben seems to be the clever one, but he's cliche geeky clever.
They should bring back the god daughter, she brought out the best in them.

I think the point about Karen not being able to wait outside the house was that the nosey neighbour regularly reports them to Social Services - as Sue said, "It'd be Ben and the harpoon all over again"!

Not sure why she believes it's illegal to leave an 11 year old in the house alone. It isn't - is it????

I particularly felt for Sue when she accidentally phoned Jane instead of Janet. Been there, done that......

Just found this thread, I'm watching on catch up.
I suspect those of us with teenagers will appreciate this series more than those with little ones. The frantic efforts to maintain the lines of communication and hovering between protecting them and accepting that they are grown.
The UCAS thing made me laugh. He finally pressed the button at 1157

Last episode was the funniest of this series with lost Oyster cards and keys

I don't have children let alone teenagers but work with them and they are like this :)

But series is ready to finish do hope next weeks last ever episode will be good :)

Come back to this thread a week later to say that tonight's episode is brilliant!

We enjoyed tonight's final episode. 11y dd loves it though missed many of the earlier series so may need to rewatch for her.