# On becoming a curmudgeon...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-becoming-a-curmudgeon/741434>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [December 26, 2015, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-becoming-a-curmudgeon/741434 "2015-12-26T22:41:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-becoming-a-curmudgeon/741434/21 "2016-01-02T22:35:59Z")

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And she of course doesn’t get them out herself (and wipe them off and set them up without bothering you because you’re working…).

::sigh::  
Aren’t our parents supposed to be more mature than we are?

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**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2016, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-becoming-a-curmudgeon/741434/22 "2016-01-03T00:13:54Z")

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Nobody really is. Its just that now that we’ve sternly advised them that we are grown up and mature, they realize they don’t have to front it any more. Dad has to worry that maybe his son isn’t tough and disciplined enough, Granpa doesn’t.

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**Author:** ![fervour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@fervour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fervour)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2016, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-becoming-a-curmudgeon/741434/23 "2016-01-03T05:01:01Z")

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> [@jasg](#):
>
> I have concluded that “curmudgeonhood”, unlike adulthood does not necessarily come from age.
> 
> I have been free from it until recently but now realize that it is often caused by the behavior of adult children (or in my case step-children).
> 
> If you are a doper between your mid-twenties and forties, think back a day. How attentive, kind and helpful were you to your mother yesterday?

how kind was I to my mother yesterday? Oh, not very kind or attentive—but she was kind of a bitch. She didn’t come to my wedding. Why? Because I married another man. She’s sweet enough. And I did straighten out her finances when her credit cards were stolen in October. I swept the leaves off her roof too.

It’s OK. I don’t mind that she didn’t come to my wedding. I have no respect for many of the notions she holds dear. It’s only fair to allow her to disregard my realities. Adults can agree to disagree.

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