As a mother I say.... AAARGHHHH!!!!!


Techno Table Manners




Since I was a child it was drummed into me
Good table manners, no meal with T.V
May I please have the butter?
Could you please pass the salt?
Now it seems mobile phones
Have caused quite a revolt...

See I'm the mother of a teenage boy
A Samsung touch screen now his favourite toy
It plays MP3s
And now he's facebooking
I'm his outdated mother
And just don't get a look in...

It's never been this hard to get his attention
But now his head seems to have an extension
A lead from each ear
Crashing sounds in his head
Now at night in my home
Conversation is dead

Yes I have a new laptop, I too am smitten
With technology, all the rules are re-written
The modern family is still together
When we sit down for food,
Honey please put that away
Can't you see that it's rude?

He gives me that look, when he thinks it's rough
In my day they were void, think you got it tough?
I'm not standing for this
So I take it away
I force him to share
The events of his day

Am I the only parent who feels this way?
Since when has sharing at dinner been "gay?"
At this rate I wonder
What else will be next?
Perhaps next time it's served
I'll send him a text...!!









Poetry by Purple Phoenix
Read 546 times
Written on 2011-01-11 at 03:53

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Stan Cooper The PoetBay support member heart!
Hi Purp...
What do kids know?!
I would rather talk to you than eat

good poem...it shows your frustration well

xxx Stan
2011-01-14


Nancy Sikora
Dinner time is family communication time, period. I don't think technology has changed the way teens act, because if it hadn't been drummed into me when I was young that dinner time was family time, I would probably have spent every meal with my nose buried in a book.

Great poem, well written>
2011-01-12


countryfog
My kids are in their thirties now, so we missed most of the "techno intrusion" when they were young, though dinners weren't all that much different . . . teenagers are by nature uncommunicative with their parents and endlessly connected to their peers. As Josephus said, manners have changed because we have allowed them to. It does get better . . . my older son (who lives near me) and I are best friends now. He has a new son of his own now and I am immensely enjoying my son learn what kind of father he wants to be.
2011-01-11


josephus The PoetBay support member heart!
Like most of us I am living this. I have adult children who feel that truth comes from a cell phone and a laptop. My ideal and ideals are an antique artifact they tolerate but discount severely. I recall conversation with my Dad at the table where he constantly played the devil's disciple. We all knew what he was doing and his joking manner spiced with sharp argument honed our critical thinking. We had no choice but the play his game. Our culture revolved around parental authority. The choice we didn't have has become the choices we have given to this generation to make for themselves; too soon I fear. Have we done them a service... I wonder?

Pardon the rant. The poem is well constructed and a pleasure to read. I love the last line!

Thanks for giving me a soapbox,

Joe
2011-01-11



It's tough being the silent son, it's tough being the parent. All you want is to be easy and natural, and it's just hard.

I see my son (just turned 20) struggle to make conversation at the dinner table. The pull of the laptop and facebook and all of it is just overwhelming. Meanwhile, I'm trying equally hard to think of something to say that isn't intrusive or judgmental. I just love him, that's really all I want to say. Over and over.

Great poem, beautiful rhymes and stanzas laid out like a well set table. Humor for dessert.

Really enjoyed this, it really got to me.
jim
2011-01-11