Do your parents embarrass you? a long vent

nesenotes

I just spent the morning with my dad and I realize he still embarrasses the hell out of me. I'm 29! Wth?!

He's foreign and has a very foreign mentality. He can't whisper for shit. He is very opinionated. He called me at 8am and said he was ready to come over. Ok news to me, fine, whatever. I decide to have him come to Gymboree. First he's yelling EMERY EMERY to get her attention all loud ever 2 minutes from halfway across the room. The. There was a little girl that was in a mood and she did not want emery near her at all. Being a parent to a toddler I know this happens and usually I will just redirect Em to another area to give the kid some space. My dad notices and starts asking the parents why she is scared of her? Awkward. Then I'm trying to shoo him to walk to another area and he is saying all loud how parents shouldn't let their kids behave like that. They are here to socialize. How will the kid learn? What will they do when they go to school? Like all within ear shot of the other parents. Oh my god. Thankfully he is old and got hungry so we left halfway through to go eat.

He also isnt the kind of person you can shush. He's like a 3yo and will challenge you anywhere. And he talks so loud!! My adult self knows he isnt a reflection of me but I swear he takes me back to being 10! Anyone else have a parent that embarrasses the crap out of them still? Commiserate with me.

britbratjf

My Dad occasionally. He's overly friendly with wait staff (seriously acts like they are BFFs) and sometimes has waaaay too much to drink in public. So nope I don't think you are ever too old

bumpuser1509193

Yup! All the time!

grimesk12

Yes. My dad seriously drives me nuts when we are in public. I love him but sometimes I pretend I don't know who he is when we are out in public. He's hard of hearing (noise induced loss from war) and talks so loud about other people, etc.. that I've been embarassed numerous times when out with him. 

zyas

MissMusic said:

Hahaha on that kind of LOUD! 

But yeah, my dad is a homophobic, racist, gun-toting, government-fearing, liberal-hating, narrow-minded peon who seems to have a lot of opinions and no problem expressing them to anyone who will listen. 

Its ridiculously embarrassing.

This kind of sounds like my grandmother (minus the gun-toting. Oh what a BAD situation that would be if she had a gun!). But add into that list that she also thinks she is the Queen. It is so embarrassing going anywhere with her. She is downright rude to servers when we go to restaurants, I've never been so mortified before. 

And she practically ruined my baby shower because she was acting so high and mighty the whole time. She is foreign as well and during one of the games we were playing (we were timed and had to unscramble words or something) she kept talking REALLY LOUD saying she wasn't going to play such an awful game as being foreign, she couldn't figure the words out, and Blah blah blah. I was so ready to tell her to shut the fuck up, that the rest of us actually wanted to play. I was so embarrassed that she was even there and wished she hadn't been invited. Oh and she's lived in Canada since she was 29 so give me a friggin break that she doesn't understand the words. That's just bull crap. 

lilahbean13

Oh girl I wish you could meet my parents. I went grocery shopping with my dad not long ago and out of nowhere I hear someone loudly saying "HAVE YOU SEEN MY DAUGHTER, I'm someone's dad!!!" I look up and my dad is walking around the aisle with a plunger stuck to his bald head. Ftw l

zyas

lilahbean13 said:

Oh girl I wish you could meet my parents. I went grocery shopping with my dad long ago and out of nowhere I hear someone loudly saying "HAVE YOU SEEN MY DAUGHTER, I'm someone's dad!!!" I look up and my dad is walking around the aisle with a plunger stuck to his bald head. Ftw l

omg! I'm sorry but this made me laugh. How incredibly embarassing. You win.

reinedecajun

Um yes! He's a LOUD 65 year old cajun man. He mixes his English and French constantly so people don't understand him so well. He goes everywhere in his pajamas. Like straight up pj pants and slippers. He has to ride the motorized scooters at the store so he makes those vroom vroom driving noises and has ran into things before. He's insane and make loud inappropriate comments and a lot of time I just thank god he's old so maybe people blame it on that lol!

KarmB

ets just says: My mother + eASTER egg hunt= pregnancy hormonal tears

KarmB

oh my mother has the WORSE stereotypical Boston accent....Mom....youre not fro here...youre from upstate new york

KarmB

MissMusic said:

Hahaha on that kind of LOUD! 

But yeah, my dad is a homophobic, racist, gun-toting, government-fearing, liberal-hating, narrow-minded peon who seems to have a lot of opinions and no problem expressing them to anyone who will listen. 

Its ridiculously embarrassing.

@missmusic How was it introducing your husband to him then? awkward? Or just didn't bother

nesenotes

@lilahbean13 that was so funny and embarrassing @MissMusic‌ that's the kind of stuff my dad does. More than half a day with him just grates on your nerves. And all that doesn't mean she is spoiled. She is loved and you know what works best for her!

nesenotes

aimee223 said:

My dad thinks he's a pirate. So, yes.

You can't just leave us hanging like that! Spill

KarmB

MissMusic said:

KarmB said:

MissMusic said:

Its ridiculously embarrassing.

@missmusic How was it introducing your husband to him then? awkward? Or just didn't bother

Uncomfortable.  My dad had peaced out long before I started dating DH.  So when it came time for a wedding, he was only mildly interested in my life again.  It still didn't stop the word "chink" from escaping his lips, though. He likes DH at this as far as I can tell. 

It really started because my paternal grandfather wanted to arrange a marriage for me when I was 16 (marriage: 18) to "a nice Portuguese boy" from one of the families he knew back in the old country.  My mom said hell fuck no, so when I turned 21 and was still unwed, I was deemed a spinster by my grandfather, and I should take whatever boy I could get at that point.

When I brought DH around as the fiance, some interesting stuff happened: all the men in my family and DH were herded into the finished basement by my grandfather.  The women (as is custom) stayed upstairs and cooked a big meal.  I later found out that they were all speaking Portuguese downstairs, eating the most questionable Portuguese snacks, drinking a shit-ton of Portuguese wine, and listening to stories about the old country.  Because DH drank, ate, and laughed at all the right times when he had no idea WTF was going on, my grandfather took him back upstairs, patted DH's belly and handed him over to me.  "He's Portuguese enough", he said, and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

That was DH's initiation into the family, and my dad--like it or not--had to go along with it.

how uncomfortable. jeez!

ashleynaka

I can only imagine how you felt.  You are right in that he is not a reflection of you, so I am sure the parents understand.  

I have to be honest though...I would take embarrassment any day over an absent parent/grandparent who is a narcissist and could care less about spending time with his only grandchild.