I have a new rule when it comes to my mother and tech support: she must make a good-faith effort to fix the problem.  She called me with speaker issues and I asked “did you try to fix it?” she replied “yes, I traced all the cables from the speakers and they’re connected”.  I went to her house, looked at the back of the speaker and saw the power cord was unplugged.  I politely informed my mother and she immediately stormed about the house loudly proclaiming her own foolishness.  Most would consider this bad but I saw progress: A few short months ago she wouldn’t have considered a device not having power a reason for it to not operate.

Parents, they grow up so fast.