I get what you’re saying and I’ve found that people have a diverse experience when it comes to their parents, so there are a lot of people who can’t relate. However, I have a similar relationship to you with mine and it took having children to realize how alien my parents are.

All of my kids are curious and show talent in things that are completely outside my experience or interest, but I make a conscious effort to learn about those things because it’s important to me to support them. That wasn’t something I experienced as a kid. In defense of my parents, I have more opportunity to exploring my kid’s interests, but it really doesn’t take much.

I’ll give you an example: I was a good kid growing up and did well in school but my parents mostly ignored me. I liked playing video games but my parents, especially my father, thought it was a waste of time. One day we were out though and he happened to see a demo of one of the Mortal Kombat games and he is a big fan of old martial arts movies. He bought the game for me and we went home and played it for a couple hours. That was over 30 years ago and I still remember who he played and the stages. I was so excited I remember he kept asking me to sit down because I was so elated that we had this thing in common. He never played video games with me before or after but I remember how excited I was that I thought I could do something my dad wanted to do.

It really instilled in me how important it is to meet you kids where they are instead of requiring them to come to you. I can’t say why your (or my) parents didn’t, but I can tell you there isn’t anything wrong with you and if you choose to have children, it is really satisfying to see them light up when you engage with their talents.