Last night I went to dinner with my family. We went to a local family restaurant, with 50’s décor and jukebox music playing all around. We ordered our meals and I happened to glance across the aisle to the table next to us. A woman sat with her teenaged daughter. They had just arrived and the woman received a call on her cell phone. I turned back to my own family and we waited for our food.
A few minutes later I glanced over again and noticed the mother was still talking on the phone. And it struck me—what was she thinking?
Here she was at dinner with her teenage daughter…her TEENAGE daughter, not her toddler who can’t get enough “mommy time,” but her teenage daughter who quite possibly doesn’t spend nearly enough time with her mom. Yet her mom was on the phone from the time my family ordered our meal until we left.
My question is, do you pick up your cell phone when you’re out with your teenager? Do you answer calls from family or friends while you’re out with your kids? We probably all do it sometimes. I know I’ve been guilty of it myself at times. But what’s the cost? When you’re dealing with teenagers, I’d say the cost could be great. Teenagers often don’t open up to their parents easily, at least not on a daily basis. So the one-on-one time we get with them, as their parents should be regarded as valuable, precious even.
If you’re lucky enough to have a “date” with your teenager, or your child of any age, and it’s just the two of you out together, why not put away the cell phone, the beeper, anything that takes you away from the time you have with them. Children will open up to their parents and talk freer if they feel they have their parent’s attention. It doesn’t take much for an older child to feel resentment toward his or per parents, and let me say, one dinner out with my mom while she spent the whole time on the phone, would have caused quite a bit of resentment from me when I was a teenager.
I hope you’ll consider this, and think about making the time you spend with your kids, quality time. The years pass quickly; it’s best to treasure the moments as we live them.