I bought a wok last week and after speaking to my parents, my mum mentioned that I would have to season it before using it. Not quite understanding what I was about to get myself into, I asked her what I would have to do. It sounded simple enough and I was confident it would be fine – after all, I decipher terms and conditions associated with online casino bonuses for a living. How hard could a simple ‘oil, heat, wipe with oil and heat’ process be?

Turns out it can be plenty complicated.

It made me think about all the times when I was kid that my mum and dad would try to get me to learn to do something myself, and it seemed incredibly difficult and slightly silly because they could do it better, and faster. Did I understand the rules of whites in hot and colours in cold (is that what it is) or know how to make ginger chicken? Not really, because my mum could get the marks out of anything and my dad was the best cook in the world.

Now that I’m spending my days reviewing casino sites whilst wearing spotted clothing and eating crap, it seems a whole lot more relevant to me. How is it that parents learn to do so much, so well?

The only arena in which you seem to be able to help your parents is technology, even though they’re part of a generation of smart people who figured out uses for the electron. Google escapes them. Mozilla Firefox mystifies them. And if they’re ever looking for an online casino in which to while away a little time, that’s when they’ll come to me.

I never expected that having expertise in the world of online casino games would be useful to my parents – since neither of them like to play games – but on the weekend my dad called me, sounding harassed. ‘K, I need help,’ he said hurriedly. ‘We’re looking for a Christmas present for your Uncle Sam. He likes gambling. What can we give him?’

Hey, I’m just glad to be able to help.