I asked for a Butterfinger once as a kid and for the next 30 something years, my parents treated it like it was my favorite candy of all time (hint: it’s not).
I mean, at least it wasn’t a Zero Bar. I got those a couple times as a kid and they were okay if you were in the mood for it, but damn if someone said they got me a candy bar and handed me that I’d be a bit disappointed. But hell, Id still be happy someone gave me a candy bar though.
My dad does the same thing. If he has to run for smokes while I’m visiting he’ll come back with a Zero bar. I rarely buy candy for myself and I would never get myself a Zero bar. They’re perfectly fine but I’d probably go a Snicker’s Almond or something like that.
For me it was always, what do you want for Christmas? How about a computer chair (because she didn’t like the chair I used, it was one you knelt on kind of like this.
I would say absolutely not, I love my chair. And she would get me a computer chair for Christmas.
Same thing happened with my graduation. She got my brother a watch a couple years before when he graduated, told her absolutely don’t get me a watch I never wear them as they always bothered my wrist. (I sweat and run hot, and we lived in Florida, which means it’s always 100% humidity). I of course got a watch for Graduation. I took it to get sized 7 years later, wore it home from the place that sized it put it in a drawer and the battery died god knows when after that, but long before I ever went to wear it, I just saw it was dead when I had to move it to another house. So now I carry a dead watch from place to place and I doubt it’s worth anything as it was engraved on the inside, so I doubt you could even pawn in.
I’m guilty of the other way. I really don’t know what else my mother is into nowadays, but since she raised me on Star Trek, I usually just get her Star Trek shit.
The thing is, she loves it every time. Or claims to.
Maybe casually ask her sometime if she needs anything? Listen when she expresses interest in a random gadget, piece of cloth, etc? Notice when she gets frustrated with a task that a tool can help with, or that you can volunteer to manage?
People usually buy gifts they would like, and its so nice she loves it still, but I’d bet she’d be extra happy with a surprise.
My folks do this. If I say I like something, I’m getting that for Christmas for the next decade
I asked for a Butterfinger once as a kid and for the next 30 something years, my parents treated it like it was my favorite candy of all time (hint: it’s not).
I mean, at least it wasn’t a Zero Bar. I got those a couple times as a kid and they were okay if you were in the mood for it, but damn if someone said they got me a candy bar and handed me that I’d be a bit disappointed. But hell, Id still be happy someone gave me a candy bar though.
My dad does the same thing. If he has to run for smokes while I’m visiting he’ll come back with a Zero bar. I rarely buy candy for myself and I would never get myself a Zero bar. They’re perfectly fine but I’d probably go a Snicker’s Almond or something like that.
my mother is somehow the opposite, if i say i don’t want something she’ll always and without fail ask me “since when do you hate [thing]”
Not arguing you’re wrong, but I’ve been witness to the other side of that sort of conversation.
The item was ketchup. Always needed to have ketchup. Then:
Child: “I hate ketchup!”
Mom: "What do you mean? You put ketchup on everything.’
Child: “I’ve never used ketchup. I’ve always hated it.”
[Jump forward a few years]
Child: “Where’s my ketchup?”
Mom: “I thought you hated ketchup?”
Child: “Since when? I use ketchup all the time.”
As the dad, I’m tempted to point out that mom doesn’t need help losing her mind, but as the dad, I also know better than to be involved.
Kids can be maddening. Mine has reflexively started saying the opposite of what they mean when asked a yes or no question.
For me it was always, what do you want for Christmas? How about a computer chair (because she didn’t like the chair I used, it was one you knelt on kind of like this.
I would say absolutely not, I love my chair. And she would get me a computer chair for Christmas.
Same thing happened with my graduation. She got my brother a watch a couple years before when he graduated, told her absolutely don’t get me a watch I never wear them as they always bothered my wrist. (I sweat and run hot, and we lived in Florida, which means it’s always 100% humidity). I of course got a watch for Graduation. I took it to get sized 7 years later, wore it home from the place that sized it put it in a drawer and the battery died god knows when after that, but long before I ever went to wear it, I just saw it was dead when I had to move it to another house. So now I carry a dead watch from place to place and I doubt it’s worth anything as it was engraved on the inside, so I doubt you could even pawn in.
I’m guilty of the other way. I really don’t know what else my mother is into nowadays, but since she raised me on Star Trek, I usually just get her Star Trek shit.
The thing is, she loves it every time. Or claims to.
Maybe casually ask her sometime if she needs anything? Listen when she expresses interest in a random gadget, piece of cloth, etc? Notice when she gets frustrated with a task that a tool can help with, or that you can volunteer to manage?
People usually buy gifts they would like, and its so nice she loves it still, but I’d bet she’d be extra happy with a surprise.