I don’t know about you, but my boys have gotten to the age where they’re starting to tease me. They’ve got wit, they’ve got a sense of humour and they’ve got some nerve…

I remember saying these types of things to my mom when I was a kid.

I also remember the look on her face. It was probably the same look I had on my face when my kids asked me about my experience growing up with dinosaurs. And my mom had me young – she was 23 and a mom, barely 25 with her second. Having kids at 37 and 39, I have some serious years on her! I’m not sure though, if my kids perceive me as old because I’m a 40-something mom, or if all kids are just brutes when it comes to comprehending their parents’ generation. Regardless, my kids love teasing me about being old (because they know they’ve hit a nerve/have some material to work with) and they’re merciless. My husband has a blast joining in.

1. Mom, your hair is so grey.

Just the other day, my younger son told us that when he grows up he’s going to be rich so that he can buy dad a solid gold mansion. “What’s he going to buy for mom?” you ask? HAIR DYE. Dad gets a solid gold mansion and I get hair dye so that I won’t have to look old.

2. Mom isn’t cool enough to speak the lingo.

Last week my son told me they were watching Yubes.

Yah, I asked.

Turns out that’s what kids are calling YouTube. I’m so old I don’t know the lingo. I keep catching myself saying I taped that – I tape nothing. I record. I’m having problems moving on from VHS in my own mind, apparently. My kids think it’s funny – not in that “laughing with you” funny. They’re definitely laughing at me.

3. Mom, did you ever have a pet dinosaur?

This one cuts deep, since I remember asking my mom questions along the same line – I also asked my mom if she wore ball gowns (you know, because she was old enough to grow up in the Victorian era); if they had suits of armour when she was small (because she must have been around in the middle ages); and if the world was in black and white when she was a kid (I didn’t quite understand that colour TV was because of technology developments, I thought actual colour was a recent invention in the early 70s.). My poor mom. I was a mean kid – however unintentionally.