I’ve noticed something lately. And, maybe I’m old school but bear with me anyway, please.
My oldest daughter has been dating since the age we started to allow it…16. She hasn’t gone on a ton of dates but, there have been a few guys around to pick her up and take her out.
Here’s my observation…
Not all the guys come to the door anymore to meet the parents. She gets a text to let her know they are here, she says goodbye to us and then…she runs out and jumps into their awaiting getaway vehicle.
There is no interrogation, probing into the minds of these young men. No Jewish Geography that gets to be played. Heck, I’m lucky if I even get to see what the kid looks like aside from a fuzzy blur as he tears out of my driveway and off into the night. With my daughter. In his car. Off to WHEREVERSVILLE.
And I just realized…I’m NOT okay with this.
Not at all.
I would have hoped that I raised my children to know that meeting or greeting their dates at the door is just something that is done. If my son’s are going on a date, I expect that they would go to the door. Knock. Meet the parents. Have polite yet uncomfortable conversation. And then, promise to have their daughter home at a reasonable hour.
In turn, I would have hoped that my daughters would be insistent that their dates would come to the front door. Knock. Meet the parents. Have polite, yet uncomfortable conversation. Be embarrassed by her parents. And then, say good night while the young man promises to have our daughter home at a reasonable hour.
I had hoped that I raised my children to have more integrity, more honor, more…whatever else describes what I am trying to describe.
Just, not this. Not this way.
Is that really too much to ask?
My kid tore out the front door like she was on the run. Like, she was embarrassed more by the thought of having her date meet us than she was of the fact that her underwear showed through her yoga pants. Not horribly but I’m a bit on the judgmental side when it comes to kids wearing tights as pants, it is what it is.
I can’t help but wonder if this brave new world of social media has made our kids chicken shits. Okay, I just liked how that sounded but still…
Between texting, fb messages, tweets, dm’s, SnapChats and et al…we are losing our civility. Well, in my house anyway.
It’s bad enough that they barely know how to interact with each other without the aid of electronics. I can’t even say we are going in the direction of the Dark Ages because they had chivalry and stuff.
Keep in mind, I’m only speaking about the going-ons of my personal world. I don’t know how it is in your neck of the woods. But here?
I’m failing as a mom, I think.
Either that or I’m a complete embarrassment and that is why there are no introductions being made.
And if that’s the case, then I guess it’s a partial mom win.
I mean, if I’m being old-fashioned and the old ways are gone by way of the low gas prices, then someone needs to tell me.
But, I don’t think I am. I truly believe that some old school ways should remain strong in present day. And the whole meet and greet, embarrass and humiliate…that is one of them.
It’s a parental rite of passage, a milestone I have not yet met.
Instead, I’m met with a kid who gets a text letting her know that she should run out and jump into a waiting car.
Oh well, there’s always the youngest daughter to train.
