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Great idea! Use Facebook as a megaphone to find your teen
The Sun Sentinel's Russell Small offers this:
I have finally found an excellent use for Facebook – other than catching up with people I haven’t seen in 20 years.
Our son, whom I won’t name, heads to college soon and is down to only one important house rule: If you’re gonna be getting home later than 2 a.m., call and leave a message saying you’ll be out late and you’re okay.
One recent Thursday, my wife woke up at 4 a.m. (we won’t get into the reasons here) and saw he wasn’t home. She raced to the car, went to look for him, and they crossed paths as he was arriving home.
A week later, the wife wakes up at 6 a.m. and discovers, again, no son at home. She calls his cell phone; no answer, and no callback after her message was left. She calls all his friends’ cell phones; no answer there either.
Now she’s really beginning to panic. Wandering the halls, wondering what to do, she discovers that once again, he’s left his computer on (Electricity? We pay for that?). This time, the online DSL is running and his Facebook page is right there on the screen.
So the wife sits down and types a posting: “To all [our son’s] friends: [Our son] did not come home last night. He still is not home. He does not answer his phone or return calls. His friends aren’t answering their phones either. His father and I are worried sick. If you have seen him, please tell him to call home and tell us he’s all right. Thanks.” She signed her name.
A half-hour later, our son calls. “Do you know what you just put me through?” he barks into the phone at his mother, who picked up.
“Do you know what you put us through?” my wife answered. Her response was a bark magnified a dozen times.
“All my friends are phoning me to tell me to call home.”
“Good,” she answered. “At least they can get through to you.”
Gretchen Day-Bryant has a son in high school and a daughter in middle school. She’s lived to tell about the struggles of juggling little kids and work...
Joy Oglesby has an infant daughter and a sister 13 years her junior, whom she babies to the now-adult...
Cindy Kent Fort Lauderdale mother of three. Her kids span in ages from teenager to 20s...
Rafael Olmeda and his wife welcomed their first son in Feb. 2009, and he's helping raise two teenage stepdaughters...
Lois Solomon lives in Boca Raton with her husband and three daughters...
Anne Vasquez is the Online Editor in charge of overseeing SunSentinel.com. She is the mother of a 5-year-old boy and a newborn daughter.
Georgia East is the parent of a five-year-old girl, who came into the world weighing 1 pound, 13 ounces...
Brittany Wallman is the mother of Creed, 14, and Lily, 7, and is married to a journalist, Bob Norman...
Chris Tiedje is the Social Media Coordinator and the father of Payton (6), Gavin (2), and Simon (1).
Comments
Good for your wife. These kids have to realize that they stress their parents out when they don't call home. The next time i know someone in the same position i'll be sure to offer up facebook as an option!!!!
Posted by: Georgia East | June 19, 2009 4:02 PM
But can you pull this trick more than once?
Posted by: Rafael | June 19, 2009 4:35 PM
That's two strikes in my book!
College or not, he has way too much time on his hands. A few good old fashioned chores should be on his agenda. Access to the car, his or yours, should be limited.
The job market is tight, but volunteers are always needed regardless of the economy, but now more than ever. To continue to live under your roof, if he isn't working, he should have a volunteer schedule, maybe at a homeless shelter so he can see how damn lucky he is.
Posted by: Cindy Kent | June 19, 2009 4:38 PM
nothing makes me more mad at my teenager than lack of respect. what your son is putting you through is a perfect example.
My 19 year old is now in college, but I could go back in time to when she acted like that before she left home, I would have gone to a family therapist with her and discussed this problem. Nowadays, she never calls me or her little sister, whose heart is broken.
Posted by: single mom | June 20, 2009 10:04 AM
Responding to Cindy Kent: Chores? Yup, he's had chores, which he did as a younger kid, but just ignored as he got older, even with constant nagging; he gets to 'em once in a while. The car? Access denied after the first (4 a.m.) incident. Volunteer? Yup, done that too, so much that at graduation, he earned a silver cord for earning more than 250 volunteer hours (he ended up with just over 400 volunteer hours). Now he's away at college, where he can come "home" to the dorm whenever he wants :)
Posted by: Russell Small | June 24, 2009 12:12 PM
Faced the same problem with our oldest. Problem resurfaces when he comes home for a visit. Overall he is a good guy but when he is around I don't get much sleep. Unfortunately I probably did the same thing to my parents so maybe it is payback. If you come up with a solution please post it.
Posted by: dave2 | June 24, 2009 11:13 PM