97 Percent of People Get This Family Relationship Riddle Wrong. Can You Solve It?

Illustration - The Epoch Times

We all know that riddles are difficult and can even be frustrating or make us angry. But we also know that they keep the mind sharp and force us to see problems in a new light. But sometimes, knowing that there’s a solution doesn’t make it any easier!

This brainteaser is guaranteed to have you baffled and bewildered, with over 97 percent of people getting it wrong the first time according to Playbuzz, which shared the riddle.

Are you up to the challenge? Put on your thinking cap and get ready to sweat!

Wow, now that’s a tricky question. Your head may be spinning a bit from trying to understand all the different family relationships. The first question is who is Teresa? Well, we know she has a daughter, so she must be an adult. We also know that, whoever she is, her daughter is the questioner’s daughter’s mother. So that makes Teresa a grandmother! So the answer is “a. Grandmother,” right?

If you answered “Grandmother,” then you were part of the 14 percent who thought this was the solution but unfortunately weren’t correct. When you reread the question, you'll see that we’re not looking at the family from Teresa’s perspective but from the person asking, i.e. you. If you think about who is asking the question, that should help you come up with another idea.

But wait a minute, isn’t this all just a complicated way of saying “e. I am Teresa.” After all, Teresa’s daughter and my daughter share the same mother, who is me. So “I” and Teresa are the same person. Shouldn’t that be the correct answer? Well, about 29 percent of people who voted on Playbuzz thought it was, but unfortunately, it isn’t.

Looking back at the question, notice that Teresa’s daughter isn’t just your daughter, in which you would be Teresa, the daughter in question is your mother’s daughter. So in fact there’s a generation gap between the person asking the question and Teresa. But one generation or two generations?

The key to this problem is something you probably did in elementary school, making a simple family tree.

Illustration - Shutterstock | shurkin_son

At the top of the tree, we'll put Teresa, since we know she’s an adult and has a daughter.

Teresa (mother) --> daughter

I, the person asking the question, also have a daughter.

me (mother or father) --> daughter

Teresa’s daughter (mother) --> my daughter

So now we have narrowed down the relationship to one level below Teresa. This means “I am Teresa” isn’t possible. We can also eliminate “Teresa’s mother” and “Teresa’s grandmother” since these are levels above Teresa. Meanwhile, Teresa’s granddaughter is two levels below, which also means that won’t work.

Illustration - Shutterstock | zoff

As YouTube puzzle master “Mind Your Decisions” notes, “so intuitively most people come to the answer that you might be Teresa’s son-in-law, because it would be at the same level.” But as we can see in the list of possible answers, all the choices are female.

So the only other option is that the person asking the question is Teresa’s daughter. Wow, a pretty roundabout way to say that you’re someone’s daughter, isn’t it? Still scratching your head? Draw out your very own family tree and put your mom’s name in the place of Teresa. You should figure it out in no time!

If you were one of the many stumped by this riddle, share it with your friends and family and watch (with a little pleasure) as they spin around and around trying to figure it out.