The website whenparentstext.com launched nearly two years ago, but somehow it hasn’t lost its charming awkwardness. The site’s even spawned a full-fledged book and a line of branded products from bags to T-shirts.
According to the site, its purpose is to celebrate the trials and errors of parents using their “old hands” to handle “small keypads.” But this description only scratches the surface: The texts highlight the generational gap between kids and parents, one that stretches beyond the realm of technology and into goldmines like relationships and pop culture. That this gap is exacerbated by our parents’ failure to understand iPhones and group texts (meet my dad, folks) just makes the site all the more comical.
Here are six of my favorite texts, ranging from creepy to endearing to WTF:
MOM: The cat wants to know why she found condoms in your laundry.
GRANDMA: I found the cheese u like
GRANDMA: at the store
GRANDMA: I sent a pic
GRANDMA: Did u get it?
GRANDMA: I just want u to b happy
MOM: Did you know your self-satisfied phone corrects iphone to iPhone? Smug little shit that it is.
MOM: It’s really hard when you get new shoes and nobody wants to talk about them.
ME: Now Mom is singing along to “Moves Like Jagger.”
DAD: Mom is the shit these days.
Dad: How do I make this my background.
Me: Why would you want to?
Dad: Wrong pic. Don’t tell anyone.
This article appears in Jun 21-27, 2012.