being better than your parents is a sign of grwoing towards adulthood and independence!

My 20 yr old is better driving a trailer than me, can ski faster over distance than me, can do all sorts of electronic things I can't (car starter on car, computer stuff etc). He is a whiz at typing.

My 18 year old is fluent in french and ok in spanish. I'm not. She can reach things from a higher shelf than me.

My 15 year old is much better on the computer and downloading pictures than me. He is fluent in french. he can also reach things from a higher shelf.

And so:What can you kids do better than you?

Do you want the long list or the short list?

A few that come to mind:

- bowling

- math (he's doing stuff at 11 that I still can't wrap my head around at 45).

- anything involving rapid downward motion (tobogganing, skiing, roller coaster riding, coasting a bike down a hill). I've got a phobia that kicks in.

- He's pretty close to being my equal on the computer but close to twenty years "in the biz" has given me a bit of edge just from experience. I still pull tricks out of my sleeve that catch him off guard (but he's done that to me a couple times, too).

Mendalla

Any of the gadgets and gidgets.

My 12 year old son is much more skilled and able than I am regarding most things having to do with computers and I am boring competition with video games. This is partly has to do with his passions and the amount of time he spends on those activities, but also his level of ability and understanding exceeds mine in some areas. My son is also way beyond me with most spatial type tasks. He is more able in French (having gone through French Immersion since Kindergarten).

My son (in grade 7) went out the door this morning thinking about a ‘position paper’ he is to write at school today. The topic he chose was whether or not a 4^th dimension exists (he believes it does) – he was imagining and theorizing, talking about vectors and space and time, and reading and watching youtube videos about what physicists and mathematicians have to say. Again, perhaps it is a difference of interests, but I think also the level of ability - my head swims thinking about another dimension, I’m just trying to get through day to day in this dimension.

If you asked my kids, they would tell you they do EVERYTHING better than me!

Myst, I enjoyed your story about your son.  I really get what you are saying.  I haven't been able to keep up with the kids "school-talk" since they left the primary grades.  School is a whole other thing these days.  I think what my daughter is learning in grade eight math is what we took in grade 12. 

Oh yeah, left one out. Videogames. I can barely keep up with Super Mario Galaxy whereas he just flies through it. Some of Wii Sports and Sports Resort stuff I can hold my own at times, but barely. Even in the strategic simulation genre (e.g. Sid Meier's Civilization, Sim City) where you'd think my experience would help, he seems to be my better although he does have more play time to spend on them than I do.

Mendalla

Wow. That sounds like something Little Mendalla would be all over. Admittedly, that's the kind of math that I tend to go for as well although I'm not big on math in general.

Mendalla

lol busymom.

Mendalla, from reading your posts over the past while, I think that mystchild and Little Mendalla would get along well.

 I get my eldest to help me when I am stuck on a screen in  'Angry Birds. ' Sometimes a fresh touch is the answer. She also has more sense of style in her baby toe than I had in my whole body at that age.

I recall my dad's suprise-years ago-when we were back country skiing into Egypt Lake cabin. I could climb the passes with a pack better than him. It didn't matter that I had much more experience in the mountina than him-he was just very suprised to be the weakest of our ski party.

And I remember 3 years ago as we skied with a few families ito a cabin-telling a friend that he needed to let his son pull the pulk the rest of the way in. I pointed out that his son was training for racing 3x week andwas  in much better shape. And so the son was the "strong skier" in that family that day!

It is a shift in roles!

Hey - do you think this is fair.  Perhaps I will start a counter thread entitled 'what I can do better than my kids'.    But for this thread:

Son - (besides physical strength), he is much more familiar and comfortable in travelling, and in living in foreign cultures. 

he is quicker at almost anything mental.

he knows far more than I do about math, science, and science fiction - and of course computers and all those other little do-dads like Ipods, and twitter, and blackberries, and . . .  And he can spell

he can 'take charge' in a situation (dealing with a traffic cop, a waiter, a group) much quicker and more confidently than I can

Daughter - she makes friends quickly and easily and keeps them for a lifetime

she is competent in her work (IT), but not flashy or pushy

she doesn't get emotional

she thinks of others, notices things, remembers

she is a tower of strength when facing adversity, doesn't place blame, doesn't ask 'why me', but gets by it, and carries on with a smile on her face

And both my kids sing beautifully.

My daughter knows the details of so many tv characters that it's mind boggling.  She knows what colour their shoes are and how many freckles they have, and insists that I draw them for her with accuracy.  Ug!  She's also a lot more flexible than I am and she can do things in her gymnastics class that I can't imagine doing myself. 

 She's also a lot more flexible than I am and she can do things in her gymnastics class that I can't imagine doing myself. 

chalk that one up to youth.  I used to do headstands all the time.  Now my eldest is the champ.   I tried it recently and thought my skull was going to cave in.

 Just about everything!

irritate old men on saturday mornings

You should see my granddaughter at a dance competition with her class.  At the end of a piece she is one of the dancers who stands perfectly still with one leg lifted straight up and the toes pointed at the ceiling.  And there she stands, without swaying or flinching, a joyous smile on her face, until th applause breaks out.  Wow!

I could never do there - not now - not ever.

If my 11 year old hasn't surpassed me yet in dealing with technology, the day is fast approaching.

My adult children are both much better than me with technology items - computer, dvd players, tv systems, etc.