Things my kids do that make me feel old

I think I am getting old. I have started talking about how I used to walk to school, bare foot through the snow and could only watch the cartoons on Saturday mornings. Clearly the snow is an exaggeration in balmy Brisbane, but the cartoons bit is about right.

There are so many things that my kids do that I would never dreamed of at their age.

getting old

For instance…

  • Thrusting their hands under taps in public restrooms completely confident in the knowledge that water will automatically flow. I, on the other hand, spend five minutes trying to figure out how to turn the bloody thing on.
  • Considering Stampy Cat an attractive, lucrative and completely acceptable career choice. You can play video games all day and get paid for it? That’s a job? Actually Mummy, if I am going to be on the road to YouTube stardom, can I start now?
  • Expecting everything to be a touch screen. And assuming those things that aren’t are clearly broken. I can still remember the look of utter contempt my two year old gave me upon finding out that the TV screen did not respond to his chubby little fingers.
  • Belief that money comes from holes in walls. When I explained to my five year old that you earn money by working he replied – “You don’t do that. You just get money from the machine. Can I please have a card to get money from the machine?”  A long conversation ensued.
  • Access to niche and random current affairs. At the moment the topic of hot debate amongst my five year old and his mates is whether Lionel Messi (soccer player) will be headed to jail for tax fraud.
  • Enjoying watching other kids “unbox” toys on YouTube. This is a thing. A huge thing. Apparently it’s fun to watch someone describe the box (in detail) and then describe the contents (in finer detail). I don’t get it.

I told you I was getting old.

Arrow 2

What do your kids do or say to make you feel ancient?

14 thoughts on “Things my kids do that make me feel old

  1. Inese Tenisons (The Hipsterette) says:

    Wow – so true! When my son was in Year 9 he was complaining about having to study ‘Physics’ and I said in Year 9 I studied typewriting and we spend endless lessons (and hours) doing typing drills fff jjj fff jjj ff jj ff jj f j – etc., which we finally built up to sentences. His response “how meaningless” – which we Year 9 school girls thought so as well, but – oddly enough, my ability to touch type is the one skill that I still use on a daily basis – 40 years later! Although I still make the odd ‘typo’ as per keying in my Frocktober hashtag!

    • Robyna says:

      How good is it being able to touch type? It’s definitely a skill I use daily. I can’t say I have ever really used Physics outside of a game of pool.

  2. Emma says:

    My kids love watching toys being opened on YouTube!!! Missed that entrepreneurial opportunity. My daughter once pointed to a pay phone and asked me what it was. I explained about life before mobile phones and landlines. She couldn’t believe that you would have a phone that was attached in the house (she has never lived in a house with a landline)

    • Robyna says:

      We are the same. Car phones are another thing that defy explanation! Although we have used a local pay phone before to call my parents as a novelty – my kids think it’s a bit like those shopping centre rides and exists for a bit of a fun.

  3. Sarah @ Sarah's Heart Writes says:

    Oh how I laughed at the hole in the wall thing. My son is 17 and despite knowing that money is hard earned, he still seems to imagine there is an endless supply in there and gets very frustrated when we say there isn’t. I cannot begin to count the ways that I feel old and on that note, I simply won’t :-). Great post Robyna xx

    • Robyna says:

      Imagine if they had to go into the bank and fill out the little passport like we did as kids? Actually, my son would probably think that was great!

  4. Clare at Girl Fifteen says:

    Oh Robyna, I laughed and laughed, I want more of these posts please! The YouTube one is so true, my youngest watches YouTubers play games and commentate the whole way through and he loves it, blimey a new career path indeed! Opening toys on YouTube is a new one on me, I wish I had thought of that…..!
    I am also the person who is looking for the tap in an ‘automatic’ bathroom! I also sometimes touch my computer screen and wonder why nothing is happening.
    Clare at Girl Fifteen recently posted…One + Four = Life. Weekly Photos 42/52.My Profile

    • Robyna says:

      Oh you are so kind! I never know if I’m actually funny when I try to be 🙂 I am forever double tapping on people’s Facebook photos to like them!

  5. Naomi Bulger says:

    Cute, cute, cute! At two and three my guys are all over the work = money thing, so when I say “We don’t have money to buy that,” they just say “Do some more work Mummy to get more money,” (which is annoyingly accurate considering that I freelance). They love getting money, but not spending it. The other day Scout had $10 to buy clip-on earrings but, on the way to the shops, she said “I really do love my money Mummy, I think I will just cuddle it.”
    Naomi Bulger recently posted…Kindness, both knowing and unknowingMy Profile

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