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What your children really think about your WhatsApp chain messages, videos and memes

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Almost every morning without fail, I wake up to motivational WhatsApp messages from my mother and aunts. They’re usually pictures, most likely a Bible verse or a video concerning a child I’ll never meet in my life who overcame a disease or something.

Either this is extremely relatable to you or you felt personally victimised by what I just said.

If the latter, this article’s definitely for you!

My older family members and extended family are the reason my WhatsApp photo album takes up majority of the space in my phone’s gallery. There was a time I got seriously annoyed by the incessant messages, but now I’m at a place where I’ve come to terms with it. After all, it is a rather sweet and heartfelt gesture, plus having someone send you well wishes is a pretty good way to start your day. It’s also very heartwarming to have someone share something that made them think of you; but hey, that’s just me!

Parents are also quite fond of sending heavily outdated memes or videos that they find hilarious but leaves us staring blankly at our screens or having a little chuckle at most. Although, I usually end up replying with a laughing emoji or two so that feelings don’t get hurt (sorry Dad).

For those of you who are unsure, a meme is a picture, video or gif of a humorous nature that becomes popularised and shared on the internet, most often on Whatsapp.

Forwarding chain messages about warnings that sound like completely fabricated stories, sending you things to somewhat guilt-trip you into calling them more often, making comments about your profile picture... it’s just a parent thing. 

I knew I couldn't possibly be the only one who experiences this influx of well-meant messages every day, so I took to Instagram to find out how other people feel about parents on WhatsApp.

I asked my Instagram followers between the ages of 16 and 25 some questions using polls, and inserted screenshots of the results below.

1. The first poll I conducted was, “Do you receive motivational messages, funny videos or memes from parents or older family members on a regular basis?

The results

Out of 204 voters, 72% voted yes, 28% voted no.

2. I followed up with: "If yes, do you find them cute and endearing or just kinda annoying?"

The results

Out of 163 voters, 34% voted cute and endearing, 66% voted annoying.

3. I then conducted a poll regarding the memes received from parents, asking "If your parents send you memes/ videos, do you find them funny and relevant or are they usually outdated and uhm, lame?"

The results

Out of 175 voters, 39% voted funny and relevant, 61% voted outdated and lame.

4. The fourth question went, "Do your parents ever send you chain messages warning you about certain things?"

The results

Out of 202 voters: 76% voted yes, 24% voted no.

5. Finally, in response to the last question, I asked voters "If yes, do you find them informative or think they're just fabricated stories?"

The results

Out of 177 voters, 15% voted for informative, 85% voted for fabricated. 

To be completely honest, these votes don’t really surprise me all that much. It’s all in good fun though, and if you happen to be one of these parents, we understand it comes from a place of love. On mornings when my mom doesn’t send me a motivational morning message, I (sort of, maybe, kind of) miss it. There, I said it. In my defense, these are the only morning messages I receive anyway but let’s not get into that right now.

Check out these hilarious tweets about parents' habits on WhatsApp:

Do you send your child WhatsApp motivational messages, memes or videos? How do they respond to it? Let us know by emailing us at chatback@parent24.com and we could publish your comments. Do let us know if you'd like to remain anonymous.

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