Not so . . . AUTOMATIC

I've spent most of the day thinking about the fact that I am the parent of a high schooler.  Really?  How did this happen?  It seems just like yesterday I was chasing him around the playground.  That was easy - chasing a cute little toddler.  This is an entirely different kind of parenting!  How do I teach him to slow down and enjoy this special time in his life?


I don't listen to country music much anymore and I'm not a big Miranda Lambert fan (I like Blake minus his dirty mouth) but I really do like one of her new songs, Automatic.

How can I teach Andy to appreciate the "important" things?  I want him to see things the way my parents taught me to seem them - with genuine appreciation.  As a teenager I wondered sometimes why my parents spent so much time exposing me and Josh to times past.  We spent hours in antique malls learning about unique furniture and trinkets.  You know, the really cool things that are no longer made or used.  We spent so many family days touring mansions or historic places of interest.  I understand now that they were teaching us to treasure things not so "Automatic".   Now. . . how do I instill this in my teenage son in a time that is even more automatic than when I was his age?

We live in a world where everything IS automatic.  Could you imagine what our grandparents would have thought of text messaging as a teenager?  What?  Instant messages?  I want Andy to SLOW down and experience life with patience and respect.  When everything they do is instant, neither of these things are being taught. Our kids penmanship is horrible because we don't even slow down long enough to teach them to write neatly.  Why bother, everything is digital, right?  WRONG!  Life is not digital!  

So, I end up with a bit of a dilemma.  I want him to enjoy the technology of the present but with limitations.  This makes me seem as somewhat of a mean parent.  Here is what is about to happen at my house - a very strict restriction of all technology, including the cell phone!  Now, there is already a rule here at home that prohibits his phone to be in his bedroom after 9 P.M.  and he really doesn't spend a massive amount of time on line.  But, I think we can both do a better job of how much time we spend "looking down" instead of enjoying the world around us.  I say we because I am just as guilty as he is.

This will not make me the cool parent, but our lives are about to change around here in more ways than one!  Here goes. . .