Always backing up into parking spaces. Filling up the water in the coffee machine the night before so it will be ready to go first thing in the morning. Counting how many spare light bulbs I have…just in case…

These are all things I’ve been doing over the past couple of years…and it suddenly dawned on me that I’M TURNING INTO MY FATHER.

Which isn’t a bad thing. My dad’s a great guy, but I definitely used to laugh at the kind of stuff that he did when I was younger…but here we are, people!

When did you realize that you were turning into your parents?

Let’s see what AskReddit users had to say about this.

1. Shout it out loud.

“Yelling at the news.

I remember constantly asking my dad if he realized the people on tv couldn’t hear him.

Sometimes you just have to yell, though.”

2. A time to cry.

“Tearing up and becoming emotional when watching even slightly sad movies/shows.

Never used to be like this until I got into my 20ss.. what’s happened? I’m just like my mom now.”

3. And the list goes on…

“Waking up before 5am everyday, drinking massive amounts of black coffee, getting extremely grumpy when prepping for vacations…

The list goes on…

I am my dad.”

4. Send help.

“When I was a kid and we were watching family movies, if the kids in the movie were cheeky to their parents or a smart-mouth my mother used to get angry at the movie and make declarations about how she would slap the little brat into next week if they spoke to her like that (she actually would have – and did, plenty of times).

I’m 40. I don’t watch a lot of television but in the past week I watched Uncle Buck and Bad Moms at Christmas (don’t judge me), both of which feature kids being cheeky / smart-mouthed to their parents.

I felt my blood rise and caught myself thinking that I would slap those children into next week if they spoke to me like that as a parent.

Send help.”

5. It’s getting ugly.

“The first time I yelled “DON’T TOUCH THE F*CKIN’ THERMOSTAT!”

Now, to be clear, this was directed towards my wife, who for some reason has about a two degree comfort range. My kids were confused, because they aren’t old enough to know what a thermostat is or what it does.

A few weeks go by, and I hear my wife in the living room tell my son “Tell Alexa to turn the thermostat up.” I lean into the doorway a bit, and my son locks eyes with me.

He then looks my wife dead in the eyes, with the most serious look he can muster and says “No way Mommy. Daddy said don’t touch the f*ckin’ thermostat! Are you trying to get Alexa in trouble too?!”

We both died.”

6. Kids today…

“Mumble rap, this is not music.

And that’s exactly the same thing my mom said when she came into my room while I was listening to Rage Against the Machine!”

7. All the good stuff.

“Daily yelling at nobody in particular about lights being left on and doors open.

Grunting when standing up.

And investing a hearty sum into various pain relief creams/ointments.”

8. Gotta work on that.

“Every time I get angry.

My mom is this type that always explodes when she’s angry, everything and everyone near her will burn because of her wrath.

And it happened multiple times to me and when it happened my brain goes “sh*t, dude, we’re just like her! Stop!”

I hate it.”

9. In or out?

“When I was a kid, I was constantly going outside and coming back inside. It annoyed my mom to no end. She used to say “In or out!!!! Pick one!”

About 20 years later, I have an amazing kid. Now that he’s old enough, he is constantly going outside or coming inside and NEVER closes the the sliding glass door.

Hence, either heat or air conditioning is being wasted for most months out of the year. I caught myself telling him “In or out!!!! Pick one…..oh crap, now I understand my mom’s frustration…..”

And yes, I’ve told him to shut the door. Many, many times. He’s never closed a door or turned off a light without my reminding. I’m hoping it sinks in soon. Sigh.”

10. Like father, like son.

“My wife and I went to visit my parents a while back.

It’s about a 1.5 hour drive so we stopped to pick up some coffee in the morning before the journey. I took a sip them went on a rant about how everywhere serves coffee too hot it’s undrinkable and I hate it.

A few hours later my dad started complaining about how he hates Starbucks because they serve their coffee too hot he can’t drink it, and my wife busted out laughing.”

11. Don’t make me do it…

“I know the exact moment.

I was 29, driving my dog somewhere and he climbed in the back seat and was acting up.

I turned around and heard myself say, completely unironically, “If I have to pull this car over, buddy, are you gonna be sorry.””

12. He was in Titanic!

“When I started watching movies and making sure everyone knew what each actor had acted in before and who their parents were (if they were famous as well).”

13. Lunch is served.

“When my father had to go to work and my mother was free, she still woke up with him and prepared him lunch.

I never understood why, since she could sleep for a couple more hours and he was perfectly capable of making his own lunch.

Well, a couple of years later my boyfriend just started his first job while I have a few weeks off between clinical rotations, and here I am waking up with him and preparing his lunch.”

14. Gotta do it yourself.

“When I was cleaning the kitchen and didn’t want anyone else to help because I felt like it wouldn’t be done right.”

15. Dad joke!

“There is a shower in my basement that no one ever uses.

There are a couple dead bugs in it that I’ve never bothered to clean up. When our niece came to stay with us for a few days, she planned to stay in the basement.

My wife asked why I hadn’t cleaned the dead bugs out of the shower, I opened my mouth and heard my dad say, “They go with the decor.””

16. Uh oh…

“The first time I yelled at a kid that biked across my lawn I was 23…

The realization hit me like a brick wall..”

17. Caught yourself.

“Yelled at my kid and at the same time saw myself out the corner of my eye in the mirror.

I was yelling something my dad used to yell at me, and I look a lot like him.

I hated it when I was a kid, and immediately apologized to my kid.”

18. You’re doing it all wrong!

“I rearrange the plates in the dishwasher if my boyfriend put them “wrong” so I can do full loads and use up all the space.”

19. What the hell do you think you’re doing?

“Getting annoyed when my roommate was throwing Tupperware lids and containers into the cupboard without ANY organization.”

20. Lights out.

“When I went thru my house the other day, yelling to my two young kids, “When you leave a room, turn the LIGHTS OFF!! This costs money!!”

I’ve officially become my dad.”

21. A nice night in.

“Going grocery shopping or folding laundry on a Friday/Saturday night.

Thinking 8pm is too late to leave the house to do anything.

In my defense it IS a pandemic, so not much to do otherwise.

It’s also winter, and I’m pregnant.. so maybe I’ll be cool again someday.”

22. I was worried…

“Last night, when I got worried because my fiancé was 5 minutes late coming home from the gym and I caught myself saying “I can’t help it, I worry about you.”

Bam, I have become my mother.”

23. Oh, this looks nice!

“When I get takeout sometimes I think, this is a nice container I’m gonna keep this and add it to my Tupperware.”

24. An early riser.

“My parents were always early risers.

On Sunday they’re up and banging around in the kitchen by 7am. They made enough racket that even though we had a pretty big house that they’d always wake me up. Always pissed me off.

When i moved out six years ago i thought “finally, I’ll be able to sleep in.” But i can’t. Even without an alarm, on vacation, I’m awake by 7-7:30. If I’m really exhausted i might be able to sleep in until ALMOST 8:30, but no later.

It’s advantageous in a lot of ways but just once in a while I’d like to sleep in.”

25. No clutter allowed.

“I no longer tolerate clutter.

This past week alone, I sorted out the spice cabinet to the degree that I ended up trashing about 50 vials of expired herbs, spices and sauces, the oldest of which was a bottle of soy from 2013. It was a long overdue task and normally I HATE doing anything resembling housework but LAWDY, it was immensely satisfying to see everything neat, tidy and easily accessible.

I also have started a binder/folder system to store all important documents that were building up on the overstuffed noticeboard, I’m about to tackle the hoard of books under the coffee table and sometime during the weekend, I might even clear out the medicine cabinet.

I also spotted a box of “Microwave Cleaner” on sale in the store today and my first thought was “ooh, €1.50 a box! That’ll be handy.”

I can’t believe I’m saying this but doing housework has made me feel so much more productive in this pandemic along with giving my depression a bit of a kick up the arse.

It’s not an outright cure-all but I’m more happy going to bed exhausted by a busy day and feeling accomplished by the end of it rather than lying awake all night lamenting the fact that I’ve wasted my waking hours once again.”

26. Now I get it…

“I started falling asleep during movies.

I used to get so mad at my mom for doing that, but now I have a job and I understand why.”

How about you?

Have you realized that you’re turning into your parents yet?

Talk to us in the comments and fill us in!