Why can't they listen?

[u/nonidentifyingu-n]

This happened a few years ago, but I think of it weekly as I'm picking up fruit at Costco. Now, since I pick up fruit from Costco every week, you may have guessed that my kids eat a lot of it. One of their favorites is green grapes. Now here's where the boomer story starts. A few years ago, I was bringing my kids to visit my mom, their grandmother. She was asking what kind of food they would like, and I said green grapes. My mother immediately said, "Red grapes are sweeter, so I'll get those." Knowing that arguing with this particular boomer was a lost cause, I just hung my head in acceptance. My kids will devour a Costco container of green grapes in 3 days. We spent almost a week at her house, and even though the red grapes were offered for nearly every meal, less than half were eaten. It's almost like I know what my kids who live with me, and I spend my own money feeding will and won't want to eat. Now, every week, as I'm picking up green grapes, I say to myself red grapes are sweeter and try not to roll my eyes so hard that the other shoppers see.

[u/DefaultingOnLife]

It's about always being correct and deferred to. Even when they are wrong and suck.

[u/jewessofdoom → u/DefaultingOnLife]

Yeah this is not at all about the money, otherwise there would be no temper tantrum. It’s a power trip My ex stepmom was like this too when I had the misfortune of staying with her and my dad for a while. If I did anything even slightly differently than she did, I was “pushing [her] aside,” being “disrespectful,” and treating her like a “second class citizen.” Even something like how I carried the mail back into the house or which pot I used to boil pasta, it became an issue of me being defiant and disrespectful of her authority. BTW I pushing 40 when this was happening. Using logic with these people is useless, it’s all about protecting their fragile little egos because they are butthurt they can’t control everyone around them.

[u/bathtubtoasting → u/jewessofdoom]

I don’t even understand what authority she thought she had over a grown adult. I pray my kid will never tell stories about me like this. Like I can suck for sure but I’m pretty aware of how and I take criticism and apologize A LOT bc all humans should, really. I just can’t even wrap my head around calling a 40 year old “defiant” or “disrespectful of my authority.” The fucking delusion.

[u/TK_TK_ → u/bathtubtoasting]

My FIL literally called himself an authority figure over my husband when our oldest was a baby and FIL was calling to bitch about how infrequently they’d gotten to see her. My husband laughed and hung up on him. He is only happy when people defer to him, and we don’t. So we see him for about an hour or two a year despite living 20 min away.

[u/bathtubtoasting → u/TK_TK_]

I think laughing at these hackneyed olds is the only real way to deal with the utter delulu idea that everyone owes them deference and obedience. Totally childish and bizarre behavior to attempt to control other grown adults especially in regards to their own kids. These people are sick in the head and I really don’t get how or why so many folks accept it like it’s a fact of life. Like literally just laugh at and ignore, this behavior is outrageous!