The Sting in Texting

My grandchildren are in town this week, without parents.  This time is a little bit different than normal visits, however, in that they are under the supervision of their paternal grandparents who live just a mile from here.  (This is a first!)   Grandma Judy orchestrated the visit and has gone to great lengths to plan things for them all to do.  I see myself as a grandparent pop-off valve for when the honeymoon wears off and everyone needs a break.  I can take one as a divide-and-conquer strategy, or I can take them both for tag-team efforts.  How do you spell relief?  M-O-V-I-E!  We'll see how things go.

Meanwhile, it should be noted that the children really didn't want to come.  (Ryan especially resisted.)  But doggone it, Grandma Judy and Grandpa Phil don't often get a chance to have the kids in their own clutches.  While they appear to be in good health, they are both in their 70s.  (Nuff sed on that!)  And Megan and Denis don't often have a chance to be kid-free for a whole week.  I encouraged her to send them, which she did....but she still frets about how the experience is going for them.  And, unfortunately, she really is NOT kid-free this week.  Why?  Texting!

Understand that circumstances over the past few years have made a better parent out of my daughter. She needs for her children to feel comfortable enough to tell her things about their lives and their feelings so she will know how to help them. We all applaud that; HOWEVER, the advent of the cell phone has made it far too easy for kids to reach mama.  I'm convinced that this generation is losing the ability to entertain themselves and/or figure out what to do in situations in which they find themselves...and FAR too easy to complain!

Today, the children complained to their mother that they were forced to go to church.   This is true.  Phil and Judy are stalwart members of our church, both as regular attenders and leaders.  They made their own children go to church; why should their grandchildren be any different??  (There is also a brag-factor at play here.  Other people's children/grandchildren live closer and show up at church often.  Ours are only around a couple of times a year.  I know I am so proud to have them with me in worship.  I imagine the other grandparents feel the same.)  The kids complained even more about having to go to Sunday School because Judy and I attend the adult version of  that, too.  Guess what? Nobody died!  After church, Ryan came home with me for the 1 1/2 hours before we were all to meet at a Japanese Teppanyaki restaurant...then the kids were taken swimming at Splash Island here in Plainfield (which, btw, made a "best pools in the country" list).

But the complaints didn't stop.  Apparently Ryan was pestering his sister, and she was indignant.  Not sure if she complained to her grandparents, but she sure did tattle to Mommy in text.  Mommy is 200 miles away.  Grandma is somewhere in the same house.  What's the point?  Do they just need to complain to see who is listening, or do they really expect Mommy to be able to fix it?

I'm torn.  I want the best for my grandchildren, but I'd also like to see my daughter and her husband also enjoy life with the kids.  I would die for them all.  I would die without them.  But does the cell phone represent the real part of life?  I don't think so.

To be brutally honest, I did the same thing to my own mother, except I was an adult when I did. When my husband was being a jerk, I called her to talk about it.  In time, I noticed that she got quieter and quieter.  I think she realized that things were more critical than her guidance could help, yet I still looked to her for relief.  And then she died and I was thrust into being a Big Girl before I felt ready.  Thank God we didn't have texting in those days!  She probably would have shut her phone off!

The week has only just begun.  The grandkids will feel inconvenienced because they aren't in their own surroundings and can't control what goes on.  I was a kid once.  I get it, but it's time to suck up for just a little bit.  Maybe it's time to text the fun and happy things??