Don't Like !

:(

I confirmed with Esther that :( is a sad connotation.

So my outspoken students tell me that they don't like the following:

• parents charting their career paths
• parents comparing them with siblings
• parents comparing them with peers
• parents quoting their past and insisting they follow suit
• parents curbing their movements
• parents insisting on curfew time
  

...but perhaps the greatest of don't likes is having your mother as a face book friend! Wow that hit the target. I remember my episode with my girls.

Ask me why I want to be friends with my girls. My reasons are very noble.

• Face book is a link ; call it a silent link where I can see the well being of my girls. I can sense when they are happy or sad.
  
• Face book allows me to monitor them from a distance; not that I can do anything but I can at least pray for them.
• It allows me to share the fun, joy and happiness they go through.

That's about all. I am sure most mothers share the same sentiments.

So why are children so afraid to have mothers as friends in face book?

• They tell me they have lost their freedom
• They are being watched all the time
• They cannot be at their natural best with contemporaries

...most of all if mothers write embarrassing statements which may mar them for the rest of their lives!

But how do you deter modern mothers from the face book? Impossible. I laughed when a colleague told me that she will stop the internet service if her son does not include her in his face book! I laughed even more when a student shared that the mother will sit in front of the computer until he included her in his face book! What a great position face book now has in the lives of literate homes.

Not knowing how others cope with it, I learn to be subtle with this privilege of being linked with them. Talk less, hear more and observe. That way it's a win-win situation. That way you don't get to be "defriended" on face book! Oh it sure is not easy to be friends with your children albeit I seemed to be asked to be friends with everybody in town !

How long will this fad last? Will there be a time when parents and children get used to one another on this social network? Yes, nothing is impossible. If mothers want to be friends with their children, then remain as real friends. There will then be peace on earth.

...but mothers being mothers...

...mothers :)...

...children :(...