Preventing parents from making bad financial decisions with technology or unnecesssary purchases can be incredibly helpful, but also confusing. Going from being the child that a parent has to instruct to an adult who now teaches the parent how to do something can be a strange transition. At least if it's something you can all look back and laugh about, though, it softens the blow a little. Someone has to be there to tell mom not to click on that pop-up ad for a free beach getaway and a million dollars!
So, when a Reddit user asked, "What's the dumbest thing you had to convince your parent NOT to do?" people were ready to share stories of the things they still can't believe they had to explain to their parents.
Not to give his banking information to someone on the phone. I overheard his side of the conversation and it didn’t sound right. I told him to hang up and call the bank to see if what they were telling him was true. Sure enough, it was a scam. - aleagueofmyown