Thursday, January 24, 2008

The tween and her mom

Back when I was growing up, I was involved in a lot of activities. I was in band, track, volleyball, softball, basketball as well as our church functions. When I had practice, which was usually after school, I'd wait for for mom to come get me afterwards. If she was running late because she was working late, had a meeting or something else, It was OK because that meant I could hang out with my friends a little longer.

I was a little stubborn and had a little temper back then. And when I was upset at my mom for being late picking me up, my cheek would have a close encounter with the back of her hand. Especially if I talked back. Of course, that only had to happen once in order for me to know that my momma meant business.

These days, you see kids with cell phones. Kids as young as elementary age have cell phones. They talk and text their friends all the time. They get dropped off at practice then 'call' when it's time to be picked up.

I noticed an incident during basketball practice. There was a young girl, who looked to be in 6th or 7th grade. She was with her friends and was sulking for some reason. She had a phone in her hands and was texting some friends. She would even talk to some of these people. Her mom happened to be at the gym and saw that she was upset. She asked her what was wrong. This girl totally ignored her. The mom continued until the girl snapped and said in an ugly voice "I don't want to talk about it, just leave me alone."

The mom looked embarrassed and walked away. If I would have done that to my mom, I'd be in serious trouble. Of course, all mom had to do was give me 'the look' and I straightened up.

When the mom walked away from this tween, the girl gave her an ugly look then whispered something to her friend.

I started to think and ask myself, "If that were my daughter what would I have done?"
Would I have given her 'the look' then told her to get her stuff because fun with her friends was over? Or maybe I would have embarrassed her back. I'm not really sure what I would have done. I do know that I wouldn't have just walked away and let my daughter talk to me that way.

What would you have done if this were your daughter?

1 comment:

leb said...

My guess is she gets by with that stuff at home, or she wouldn't have tried it in public. Can't say it ever happened to me.

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