Not much brings kids joy like watching their parents slowly go insane. For reasons unknown to adults, kids love to annoy their parents and bring them to their knees. For children, the act of annoyance is equivalent to adults taking a midday nap. It is one of life's simple pleasures at their age. Learning how to annoy your parents can offer endless hours of entertainment, but here are sixty-plus ways to get you going.
How to Annoy Your Parents in Public
If you want to bristle your parents' feathers, act up in public. No mom or dad can stand the sight of the child acting unruly in the presence of others.
- Argue with your siblings in aisle four. Make sure it is over literally nothing.
- Repeatedly ask your parents for things that you already KNOW you can not have.
- Walk directly in front of any cart that your parent is pushing.
- When your parents ask you a question, grunt at them.
- If you are out at a restaurant, slouch in your seat and act as if they dragged you into the seventh circle of hell, not a fine dining establishment.
- Order something expensive off of the menu and then only eat the free bread.
- Wear earbuds and act as if you have no ability what-so-ever to hear.
How to Annoy Your Parents in the Home
In parenting, the days are long and the years are short. On those long days that never seem to have an end in sight, push your parents' very last button with one of these uber-annoying tendencies.
- Cry and complain throughout the day that there is absolutely "no food" in the house. Do it immediately after a parent has returned from grocery shopping.
- Throw all dirty laundry on the floor next to the laundry basket.
- Leave empty glassware and dishes in your bedroom for days.
- When your parents ask for your help, tell him you'll do it later and then never, ever do it.
- Clean your room by shoving every item you possess under the bed and in the closet.
- Never fully close your drawers.
- Shower and don't use soap or wash your hair.
- Leave the shower curtain on the outside of the bathtub so that the floor becomes a swamp. Clean nothing up and then act put off when a parent brings the mess to your attention.
- Use words like "never" and "always." Example: You NEVER let me go anywhere or You ALWAYS make me do EVERYTHING.
- Beg your parents for a pet and then never help out once you get your animal.
How to Annoy Your Parents on Special Days of Celebration
Nothing will cast a cloud on a Christmas or birthday memory like one of these iconic outbursts.
- Refuse to wear the special outfit that cost an entire paycheck.
- When your parents ask you what you want for Christmas or for your birthday, say nothing.
- Disappear into your bedroom when the family arrives to celebrate.
- Balk at a celebration meal that your parents spent all day cooking and then go make a Hot Pocket.
- After opening presents, announce that there is nothing to do.
- Start a fight with a sibling - a classic move used by generations of annoying children.
- Roll your eyes at something every hour on the hour.
Driving Your Parents Crazy on Road Trips
Your parents are tired, they still have miles and miles to go before reaching their final destination, and they can not get away from you. Sounds like a perfect time to strike with some annoying habits.
- Ask your parents to change the radio station every five minutes.
- Bicker endlessly.
- Spill something and blame a sibling.
- Forget something really important and make your parents turn around well into the drive.
- Be hungry for the entire duration of the trip.
- Rub your greasy hands all over the windows, bonus points for mucking up the seats.
- Let your parents know that you have to go to the bathroom ten minutes after you visit a rest stop and refuse to "try".
- Deny your parents a few french fries from your fast food meal.
- Fall asleep right before arriving at your destination and then stay crabby all day long.
- Kick the seat in front of you and then say you are not kicking when you are asked to stop.
How Toddlers and Young Kids Annoy Their Parents
Little ones are cute and at times a bit bothersome. Tried and true by tons of tots throughout time, these annoying behaviors will send even the most stable, level-headed parent running for the nearest bathroom to hide in.
- Ask for food and then cry because they are not hungry
- Insist on dressing themselves in wildly inappropriate garb
- Destroy all of your makeup for the four minutes that you are in the shower
- Run away when you try to walk to the car
- Demand shows like Peppa Pig and Caillou 24-7
- Color on everything, walls, furniture, the family pet
- Wage war against items of one specific color quite suddenly
- Get into your jewelry, tangle anything with a chain, and drop earring down the closest heating vent
- Hide somewhere and refuse to answer frantic parents who are sure that they lost their child
- Say random, mixed up things to guests that make them question why your parents even still have custody
How Teenagers Annoy Their Parents
By the time children become teenagers, they have also become masters at driving their parents insane. Here are some clever ways that teenagers make their parents question why they ever had children in the first place.
- Dye your hair unnatural colors the day before a big event or family picture.
- Cut up your clothes because you saw someone do it on TikTok.
- Use all the towels in the house and then leave them wadded up in a dark bathroom.
- Take your mother's makeup, hairdryer, and all the hairbrushes in the house and never return them to their proper place.
- Tell your parents that you are out of something well after it is gone.
- Put empty boxes back in the pantry.
- Say words and phrases like "fetch" and "kk".
- Steal all the phone chargers in the house.
- Ask your parents to hand you the remote control, (only do this if you can actually reach the remote control and if they are very busy).
- Remind parents of major school events a half hour before you are supposed to be at them.
- Borrow your mom's nicest clothes without asking.
How Adult Children STILL Annoy Their Parents
Just because your kiddo is technically "grown" doesn't mean that they suddenly stop being obnoxious. Adult kids find new and innovative ways to bug their parents.
- Use unusual acronyms and emojis when texting your parents.
- Ask your parents to call you and then don't pick the phone up.
- Invite your parents over for dinner, but make sure that you don't have napkins anywhere in your home.
- Wad all of your sheets and towels into balls and stuff them in linen closets.
- Say the words "um" and "like" when you speak.
- Refuse to clean out your car.
Careful of Karma
It might seem like a blast to drive mom and dad up the wall now, but trust that someday, what goes around will certainly come back around. In time, you will be the parent, and your own kids will be dedicating their days to making you tear your hair out. Be careful of karma! Someday your parents will get a nice chuckle out of watching their own child lose their marbles over their kids' annoying behaviors. But until that day comes, now it's time for some pranks to do to your siblings!
