Daughter’s astonishing comment!

I only have sons but i cant believe the entitlement of some of these DDs! My boys would never talk to me like that.

V3ra, I'm going to write that down

Metra, I'm with you!

I'm afraid so. And as someone has said already, they can rewrite history

My eldest, born 1970, has a very selective memory, remembering anything remotely unpleasant that happened and rejects any advice but is quick to blame when things don't work out as he expected ! Younger son, born 1980, is totally different. Occasionally asks for an opinion and when given actually listens then makes up his own mind and doesn't blame others for his decisions. Elder son says he has not fulfilled his potential because I didn't ! His father and I both have degrees , husband worked until ill health caused him to retire ( even though he was partially sighted ) and I worked part time . I have pointed out that often lower middle class girls born in the mid 40's didn't always have the choice, opportunity or even aspirations of young women today.

She could always join an evening class when they start again. Probably be taught upholstery, not sure about “finishing “ though!!

Poor girl, I’m surprised she didn’t ring child Line
Sara when my teenage DD’s were being singularly obnoxious and moaning and groaning about their lot in life, I occasionally offered to ring Social Services to see if alternative parental arrangements could be made. The offer was always speedily declined.

We would often go to a local beauty spot called Bolam Lake for a walk on Sunday afternoons. This was also met with moans and groans and as many objections as they could muster.

Guess where’s the first place they take the grandchildren when they come to stay?

How wonderful to hear all about other people's experiences with their adult children. I thought that I was the only one whose son has a very selective memory and can't forgive me for many things which he has imagined. Like everyone else I did my very best (single parent) but his father, whom he saw on alternate weekends, was, of course, perfect!

Oh this is such a reassuring thread!

My daughter, who avoided any social events and wouldn't step out of the door or phone any friends to see if they were available to go out, astonished me. Apparently, had I let her hang around on street corners like her other friends then she wouldn't have had the anxieties she had. Yes, I insisted that I knew where she was, had a decent bed time on school nights and was safe but I never stopped her going out. Her brother regularly just "hung about" with his mates at the skate park. He was well known enough to have to behave or it would have been reported back to me. It would have been the same for her. Some of the things I wouldn't let her do have been an enlightenment to me!

Yes they all do,

I don't understand why this is here, but you address a bishop on an envelope as "His Grace the Bishop of..."

You can start the letter simply with "Your Grace" or if you are on really formal terms "Reverend Father in God".

I address mine by his baptismal name, which is what most people do these days, but in speech if you are being formal you say, "Your Grace".

Yes, they all do,(boys and girls) only seem to remember their own version of events from the 'growing up years'?- but finishing school?really? Is that you're way of telling us you're a bit posh Missfoodlove??

My mother threatened to send me to a Swiss finishing school when I was a wild teenager. It was a threat but I wish I’d said OK now! As a 71 YO it sounds great to me now. BTW yes kids do forget things but then so do parents!

It isn't only grown-up children who do this.

Sisters and brothers do it too.

I honestly think we all remember what we want to remember and forget the rest,

All one can do is point out that we all remember things differently and that that seems to be part of human nature.

The honest answer to "Why didn't you warn me that the man I had chosen was no good?" is and always has been, "You would not have believed me if I had said so at the time. I would only have offended you."

My dad used to joke he was sending me to finishing school

I'm still taken aback when my 38 year old son says he enjoyed things he did as a child when for a long time he claimed to hate them.

Our son once complained that he and his sister had been deprived of certain foods because I don’t like them. When asked to name them , the only ones he could think of were cockles and whelks. I reminded him that as a child the only vegetables he would eat were peas and once when served these at a neighbour’s house, refused to eat them because they were wrinkly.

Yes, I had a similar experience with my high flying daughter. She turned to me at one point and said that she shouldn’t have done all the studies she did and that maybe she would have been happier doing less as her sisters as they don’t have her stress. I, in no way forced her, she was so strong minded. Her sisters work for the public, hospital and school and earn a third of her salary. However, she loves her lifestyle and being able to spend as she does. But somehow I felt she was blaming me!

Our DD1 holds me responsible for her not liking sandwiches (any kind). She said in conversation that it is my fault as I didn’t give her any as a child.
That’s quite funny as I remember trying her with cheese, ham, tuna, jam and honey sandwiches - all of which she refused to eat as a child. ?
I think it’s “selective memory”.

I think you call a bishop "Bishop" as in "How do you like this weather, Bishop ?"

That is what you do with a duchess. First is "Your Grace" then "Duchess". If you are the person's employee they might have different house rules.

OOpsadaisy, I imagine your very posh neighbour is quite lonely . There cannot be many people with the same sort of memories as hers and if she is old that makes her even more unusual.

When her children were determined to follow a course of action she didn't agree with, or could see was not a good idea, my friend used to tell them,

"I need to say this to you, and you need to listen. What you do after that is up to you, but you can never say I didn't warn you."

My daughter, age 10 was a type 1 diabetic and also a vegetarian. At the hospital one day the Dr told her he was changing her insulin from pigs insulin to a man made one. My daughter was horrified and said to me you knew I was a vegetarian but you let me use pigs insulin. Words failed me.

I could have been a concert pianist were it not for my DM giving in to my endless badgering to give up piano lessons at age 12.
?