Can One Communicate Through Texting? I can't!

Anyone with children over the age of 13 know that having a cell phone

and using it for phone calling is passe. If you want to get your kids attention

you need to text. Getting their attention and getting information are two 

different things. Just because you can connect doesn’t mean you can 

communicate. Is it me or is it just too hard to get a concise and clear answer? 

Perhaps I’m just too old?

Take a recent event in my household.

3:19pm            

I received a call from my oldest upset and angry that his car had broken down

on the way to practice in San Francisco (45 minutes away/50+ miles).

After a long discussion I had with him concerning his options.

He told me he would make a decision and then call me back. 

(And if you are a parent you can predict that no phone call followed in a timely manner.)

After a couple of cell phone calls and leaving messages I resorted to texting.

4:34 pm                

Mom – What’s the plan?

(The initial plan involved him having the car towed prior to practice and me

driving up and picking him up at 9pm. If that was to happen I had to

cancel my plans and juggle some things.)

6:53pm               

Son - I’m going to tow it and come back in the morning

(Ok. But tow it when? When I pick you up? Now? When? 

You text “come back in the morning. Does that mean you are staying with 

a friend in the city tonight?)

7:18pm                 

Mom -  I’m still planning on leaving at 8pm to get you. Am I still picking you up? 

From your message I’m assuming that you are staying with a friend in the city

and the car and you are in a safe place? Talk to me!

7:38pm                 

Son – I’m safe. Coming home tonight

(Coming home tonight? With me? With car in tow?)

7:38pm                 

Mom – Who is bringing you home? Me? Or someone else?

(Why am I so confused about my role here?)

8:21pm               

Son -  I’m in the tow truck, on my way to the repair shop

(Oh, finally and answer I can understand!)

8:21pm                 

Mom – Ok. Call me when you are close and I’ll come pick you up.

                           

 Son – OK. Will do

(Finally we are communicating.)

8:50pm                 

Son – I’ll be at repair shop in 5

Mom – Ok I’m leaving now.

                            

A couple of other noteworthy moments concerning this exchange:

I’m  exhausted after being in a high state of alert for over 5 hours.

And after copying our texting exchange into this blog I notice several things:

I text a lot of words, and my son does not.

I use punctuation and he does not.

(Obviously I am a poor texter. I guess I am too old for this sort of thing.)

I miss talking on the phone.

School Lunch Challenge

I can’t make up my mind if making school lunch is one of the most boring jobs a parent must do. It certainly is one of the most challenging. Don’t get me wrong I want my children to eat a nutritious and delicious lunch. It is the variety and the daily grind that I have a problem with.

If you are parents chances are you have a daily routine. (We certainly do.) The making school lunch is scheduled around 7:30/8pm which is (after our family athletes and musicians are back from activities) and after dinner has been served and cleared. Chances are my husband and I prior to dinner went through a “what in the heck should we make for dinner?” phase and thankfully one of us had some sort of brainstormed idea that resulted in dinner. Now an hour later I am back at square one to figure all over again what we have in the house, and what will be an acceptable lunch for my children. Sometimes I just don’t want to make lunch. Sometimes I just want to break the vicious cycle and be lazy. (To heck with this grind. Go buy lunch kiddos!) Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I plan and do execute lunch effortlessly, but it just gets challenging on a daily basis.

I should tell you that I have the added challenge of children that do not like sandwiches. (Yup. You read correctly. No sandwiches! Unheard of right? Or maybe my children were SO smart by telling me they did not like sandwiches I would then have to deliver something else, something more exciting?) This anti-sandwich situation was an enormous hurdle at first, until my husband and I started purchasing microwaves for their classrooms and school lunch rooms. Even so the variety and how you cycle your leftovers can be just as challenging.

To make matters worse the school year is winding down. This is a dangerous time for me. What was once an acceptable and enthusiastically welcomed lunch when the lunch box was opened, has now received comments like “not this again”. Naturally my children break the news to me gently..”Mom, if I have pasta salad to eat again I think I will be sick!” “Ok, thank you dear.” (Damn another lunch crossed off my list.)

I actually have figured out that during my children’s school years I have (so far) made a total of roughly 5,249 school lunches in my lifetime. By the time my youngest leaves for college I will have made over 6.000 school lunches. (No wonder I’m tired of the grind!)