I finally got around to watching this week's Army Wives. There's the obligatory TV scene where the daughter wants to date a boy, so she has to bring him home to get the third degree from her parents. My parents never behaved this way. Maybe it was because they already knew all my friends from sports and stuff at school, but we never had to have one of those TV dinners that sounds like an interview: "So, what are your plans after high school?" Did you? Is this really what normal families do, or just families on TV?
Oh, and the boyfriend starts talking about Jack Kerouac. Can I just tell you how overrated I think On the Road is? Gag me. Thus I loved the scene in Freaks and Geeks when Kim Kelly said, "I hated the book, alright? I have no idea what it's about, and the writer was clearly on drugs when he wrote it. I mean, it just went on and on and on like it was written in a total hurry. If I handed in something like this, there's no way I'd get a good grade on it, I mean, it's boring and it's unorganized, and I only read 30 pages of it anyway." (Found at 5:47 in this youtube.) Perfect summary of that crappy book.
I don't know how parents keep from rolling their eyes when high schoolers try to act mature. I don't think I'll be very good at it. I have told my mother recently that she was a good mom for not belittling me when I thought something was The Biggest Drama Ever. I'm afraid I'm gonna laugh at my kid someday.
Posted by Sarah at August 6, 2008 05:18 PM | TrackBackWhen I watched that scene in Army Wives, I remembered that I never had one of those "meet my parents" evenings. I thought that I just missed out on them because my father had passed away before my dating years, so I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one that didn't go through that ritual.
I don't know how I'm going to deal with my kid's high school years... yuk... I didn't like high schoolers when I was in high school.
I did not catch this week's show, but after hearing about the scene, I'm glad I didn't.
My parents never pulled the third degree dinners either...so I have no idea if real people do this or not....
As far as the book, when it was offered as one for our senior project, I chose Wuthering Heights, I figured at least that was literature....
I love listening to my daughters go on about things in their life... everything is a drama, and everyone involved is the queen...it's also nice to hear them ask me how it was when I was in High School....they find it funny that so much is different yet so much is the same. Of course we are talking about quite a long time since I graduated...
It's not Kerouac, but I'll admit it here - in high school I thought Catcher in the Rye was a shining piece of literature.
I read it again when I was 32 and thought, "Why didn't someone spank that stupid kid when it would have helped?"
Posted by: airforcewife at August 7, 2008 09:28 AMWe never had dinners like that, either. By the time my parents MET any guys I liked, they already knew all about them.
This past week's episode was pretty lousy all around.
Posted by: Ann M. at August 7, 2008 10:04 AMI grew up in a way small town where my parents had gone to school with the parents of boys I dated. Everyone knew everyone.
We never had the get-to-know-you dinner, but boys did have to come to the door and come in. They also had to meet my father who show them the lovely bullet with their name engraved on it & filled by his own hand in his gunsmithing workshop. Yep. Classy. But, effective, until Brian anyway. And, we see how that worked out!
You will laugh at your own kids sometime, but other times, when you're paying attention, you'll remember how important things were to you and how serious you were about them and how it made you feel when someone took you seriously...and you'll do that favor for your kid b/c you'll be a good mom like that.
Posted by: Guard Wife at August 7, 2008 12:54 PMIsn't it ironic how insanely brady bunch those tv scenes appear? Do parents really only connect with their family at meal times? I and the majority of my friends parents were so intertwined with our lives and they knew practically everyone who was dating anyone and what std they may or may not have had. Ironically in those days "going out" generally meant hanging out on the softball field "making out" at lunch and holding hands around teachers. I lived in the sticks and went to a small school, what can I say.
Posted by: Darla at August 9, 2008 09:58 AM