Have you ever taught your parents something?

[Misterian]

Okay, I know it's probubly a rare thing to happen, but I had this question in mind when a certain something happened a good while ago.

My family got a set of old video cassettes to go with a VCR/DVD combo system my grandma got us, on of those video cassettes was a version of Wind In The Willows, one of my favorite stories growing up.

then, one night, one of my sisters, and my dad, were trying to figure out what movie they should watch, I encouraged them to watch Wind In The Willows, figuring they'd like it as much as I did.

I think half an hour later, my dad went to me and thanked me for showing him Wind In The Willows, he said he took notice of how Mr. Toad, a guy who has all this great wealth that can help him live comfortably for his entire life, blows large chunks of it buying whatever fancies him, be it boats, horse-carriages, or most notably, motor cars.

My dad told me he was about to go do something that somewhat puts him in a similar position that Mr. Toad placed himself in, my dad was planning on spending abit of money on going to a bar to have a drink and be with some friends, but that movie gave him the impression that what he plans to do is hardly a good idea, as he'd gain little of it, and he knows I've warned him more than afew times about coming home drunk.


My dad said that Wind In The Willows basically taught him that he should appreciate what he has, and he has a great family that loves him (myself included), a good comfortable house, and alot of decent things that basically are worth having. And he thinks that trip to the bar he was planning would do him little good. I know my dad has a weird way of thinking (but then, so do I), but I think you get my point.

But enough about me, have you ever, intentionally or unintentionally (like how I did it), taught your parents anything that you know of?

 

[joebthegreat]

I taught my dad how to play StarCraft and we've both been following the professional scene for years.

 

[The Grim Ace]

I taught my dad Spanish. It wasn't too bad at first but he mainly ended up using it to yell at the neighbors, his accent makes it damn hilarious, at least.

 

[mysta02]

I teach my family stuff all the time. My dad always has little invention ideas (for his own use, not so much to sell) and usually needs help with the math and logistics of them. And, my mom can barely turn on a computer, so I try to teach her about phones and computers whenever she needs help.

I also read a lot of books and usually have a few neat things to inform them of.

They taught me when I was younger, so I think the least I can do is help them out now that I actually know things

 

[MrShowerHead]

Tried teaching my mother to use Photoshop

[sub] Never again... [/sub]

 

[Fenra]

I taught my mother how best to care for her new puppy, one of the few times my 3 years at uni studying animal health, welfare and managment actualy came in handy

 

[Anarchemitis]

Everything my parents know about 3D Modeling, Model design theory, DVDs, most of what they know about space exploration, a good portion of what they know about video games all came from me, I would suspect.

 

[Rylot]

Not so much teaching but I've had some interesting conversations with my mother on different things ranging from politics to religion. They're kinda nice in that neither of us feels the need to cram our opinions down each other's throats but have more of an exchange of ideas. It does also help that we have the same general leanings.

 

[Juheniqus]

I taught my father some basic tricks and how to use the keyboard to play starcraft 2. It hurts me when I see him play with only one hand :S

 

[Valthek]

"No dad, deleting dos.exe is NOT a good idea."

"Yes, that's the on-off button."

i've taught my dad a few computer-related things

 

[Brightzide]

I've taught my Dad lots of things about science, 'course he'll never admit to it, he always had to change his answer last second to try and make me look the fool. But im no fool. Im an 'A' student when it came to all the sciences, so I know a fair bit. He's just an arrogant sod who'll never accept being wrong.

 

[Fetzenfisch]

I taught my mom "how to get the CD out of the Com-puh-taahh"
And i tried to teach my father some stuff. But as a Teacher he is unteachable.

 

[MikeOfThunder]

I study modern history and my dad seems to know every tale or historical fact that there is! (If not everything he has atleast heard of it and knows a small ammount of information)

It was only until I was 21 that I finally told my dad a reasonably infamous story about the 'Katyn Massacre' (Polish officers killed by Soviets, blamed for long time on Nazis) that I finally had something he knew abosolutely nothing about!

 

[NerfedFalcon]

What the Japanese word 'yuki' means. ('Snow', in case you were wondering.)

The conversation went something like this: She brought up that Eskimos don't actually have multiple words for 'snow', they just put adjectives on the one 'snow' word. Then she said she thought the multiple-words-for-snow applied to Japanese, because she once bought a brand of sake whose name meant 'fresh snow'. Spotting the word 'yuki', I pointed out that it actually meant 'snow', and I knew that because of the yuki-onna (lit. 'snow woman'), a kind of youkai that lives in cold areas and steals the heat from men. By having sex with them.

(Yeah, I spell youkai with a 'u'. Got a problem with that?)

 

[Shippy]

all the time, but then i am the IT person in the house.

also a teacher in a family of teachers so it's not unusual

 

[KiKiweaky]

Aload of general computer things, but no matter how many times I tell them they'll keep asking, asking and asking. The little notifications you get in the system tray, things like 'updates are available' make them think the computer is about do die and they come running an screming looking for me hehe

 

[Blackadder51]

Patience. A lot of it.

 

[Catchy Slogan]

I (sort of ) taught my mother how to use Microsoft Publisher. Never again.

 

[dietpeachsnapple]

I taught my parents about sociology. Specifically my undergraduate thesis on Durkheim. With any luck they were very bored.