What Do You Think?
Nelson and I were out to dinner one night last week and we saw a family of five sit down at the table across from us. They had three teenagers, all of whom were wearing headphones connected to Ipods.
I told Nelson to take away my parenting rights if I ever let that happen to us.
When did parents lose control? When did it become more important to befriend your children than to form them?
I don't want to be judgmental. I know I don't have teenagers yet. But really, I don't ever see myself spending money to have a nice family dinner at which no one speaks to each other and everyone is in their own bubble.
posted by Amy Parris @ 9:21 PM
6 Comments:
Amy, I COMPLETELY agree with you!!!! I think that it is very disrespectful to the family when one is doing nothing but sit in their own little bubble...and only emerge to say "pass the salt..." or something like that. Sometimes I wonder what parents are thinking when they allow their children to listen to their ipods non stop! Your right the parents have lost control...(not to mention the loss of verbal contact.) What is our society comming to????
Does that even count as eating together?
Bill and I ate out once and I marveled at the children behaving so well (they were roughly our boys' ages, maybe a few years older), but Bill pointed out the Gameboys! Will these kids ever learn how to have a conversation with adults about adult topics?
Preach it, sister!
I confess that we spent last week at a condo with three televisions. For a brief time, hubby was watching CNN, kids were watching PBS, and Mama was weeping over yet another episode of "A Baby Story."
It takes tremendous willpower to unplug. You are well aware of my recent struggles over electronic gifts from a relative. A gameboy and a game system came into our house and right back out with a tremendous amount of unnecessary heartache in between.
p.s. Aiden looked like he enjoyed PDO!
Amen, Amy! When my first son was a baby, we had a visit with some relatives who live far away. All of the children (four of them) were engrossed in their respective Gameboys. (This was before iPods were invented.) These people flew 3,000 miles for a rare visit with family, and they let their kids completely ignore everyone! Right there I resolved: no Gameboys (or iPods, or TV in the bedrooms).
No, no, no, no, no.
Those things are fine, for when you're BY YOURSELF.
But mealtimes are a community event.
The End.
BTW, I saw your comment on Danielle's blog. Glad I'm not the only one who still remembers (and sings) "5 People in My Family."
I agree with y'all. My kids are not teenagers yet, but you know, they don't "suddenly" start behaving this way as soon as 13 hits. If they are trained from the beginning to respond appropriately to others, they will be polite in their teens and beyond. As soon as my kids are old enough to either hide or smile when someone greets them, the training in manners begins. Much easier than waiting until they know everything & I can't teach them anymore.
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