They wind you up, your mum and dad

Every now and then, often during some exchange over the dinner table, you catch a brief, fleeting glimpse of the things that your own children find annoying about you. They don't even have to say what it is that infuriates them. In that instant you can tell that you've just applied the silver paper to their fillings.

The sources of their annoyance are not the same things that enrage your spouse about you. She's not your issue and so she's not worried that she's like you. Basically, your kids find you embarrassing and aggravating because they're your kids and they're worried they might turn out like you.

When these moments occur across the dinner table I flash back to the things which used to drive me mad about my own parents. If I hadn't loved them I would have been indifferent to them. I don't worry about it. I'm now at an age where I'm starting to identify with the allegedly out of touch parent figure in every sitcom. Marty Crane, I'm with you.