So why is it so hard for other folks to get on the bandwagon?
Hey Parents- get off your cell phone at dinner!!
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I like to have a "date night" with my son at least once a week. Whether we hit a deli or go for Chinese, I always love spending time with my little man one on one. This means, no phone calls, and giving him my complete focus for about an hour. It's something we both look forward to.
Recently, my son and I went to a restaurant, and I noticed a mother and daughter in the next booth. The mother was in her 50's and the daughter looked to be about 20. The girl was trying to talk to her mother, only mom wouldn't hang up her damn cell phone.
"Mom?" she begged.
The mother put up her hand like she was stopping traffic, and kept talking.
Suddenly, I saw the daughter start to twitch. Literally, she had some sort of tick, and it seemed to get worse the less her mother gave her any focus at all.
"Mom, will you please talk to me for a second?" She asked again.
The mother help up her index finger with gusto. She also shot her daughter a look of death.
"Shhhhhhh!" Her mother scolded.
The daughter sighed, pushed her food around her plate, and displayed that occasional tick where her head and left shoulder seemed to meet both rapidly and painfully.
If this was an emergency, I could see why the mom wouldn't want to hang up her phone. But I was listening to the mom's conversation. It wasn't a damn emergency. It was girlfriend small talk.
"Do you think it'll last? I mean they've only been dating for like a month," the mother said with a giggle.
OMG. Dating conversation is more important than your daughter???
The daughter waited, and waited. My son and I ate our entire meals and were paying our bill, and the mom was still gabbing away about her friend's new boyfriend.
"That is so cute. I can't believe he sent her flowers like that," the mom said into the phone with a laugh.
When I was a kid, my Dad was always distracted when we went out to dinner. He didn't have a cell phone to gab on, but he chatted with waiters, or strangers. He looked over my head and pretended to listen. It was horrible. My heart broke for this girl, knowing exactly how she felt, minus the twitch in my neck.
So if you spend time with your kids at dinner- do yourselves a favor. SHUT OFF THE PHONE. The world will survive without you being plugged in for 45 minutes. If you have a babysitter or you're worried about a sick loved one, keep it on vibrate if you must.. but nothing is more important than making your child feel your undivided attention.
Nothing.
3 Comments
Julie Hammerle said:
Amen. This is one of my biggest pet peeves. I hate it when people do it to me (even "subtly" checking text messages under the table). I would never do my son such a discourtesy.
Sweepea said:
I try not to do this, too and my toddler makes it known (two and a half so in the vocal stage:) when I am not paying attention. Your dad loved his cell phone (from your book) and you learned how to be present from his example.. funny how our parents can teach us even from their not so good habits.
BobBoisen said:
Such behavior is child abuse, no matter how old the kid is.
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