Mother of a Man-Child

My life with teenage boys

Mother of a Man-Child’s Top 10 Posts December 23, 2011

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As I post this week, I am celebrating a small milestone – 100 posts by Mother of a Man-Child.  Every Friday, for almost two years now, I have shared a little story about our life with the Men-Children (and not to be forgotten Sister of a Man-Child).

It all began with this story (All In Good Taste), which was really the inspiration for my blog in the first place.  I was so outraged at the behaviour of my teenage son, and no doubt the lack of control that I was facing, that it suddenly occurred to me to write about my experience, in order to vent my frustration, and for my own amusement.

I have had almost 6,000 views of my blog in that time, from a small but growing audience.  I have rarely been short of material, thanks solely to the Men-Children who are a constant source of inspiration for my writing.  I have also thoroughly enjoyed the comments from you, my readers, and the regular feedback.  It’s always nice to know people enjoy reading my stories. 🙂

To celebrate my little milestone, here’s 10 of my favourite posts.  The ones that caught my eye as I recalled what we’ve endured and/or survived over the last two years.  As it’s Christmas and we’re off on another Griswald Family Holiday, I’ll be having a short break from Mother of a Man-Child, but I’ll return early in 2012, no doubt with some more news of the Men-Children’s adventures from our next holiday!  Enjoy.

  1. Argue this logic (boys are NOT on the same wave-length as their Mother)
  2. Uninvited guests after midnight (what happens when you find four strange girls in your home at 3am)
  3. An arresting story (a close call for a shop-lifting man-child)
  4. The self-tattooing trend (sometimes teenagers are idiots)
  5. New Years Eve at Portsea (like Mother like Son, the attraction remains)
  6. A Princess Tale (a story about Sister of a Man-Child, in sharp contrast to the Men-Children)
  7. Sleeping over at a GIRL’S house (at 14 not my ideal scenario)
  8. Freezing on Cadet camp (a lesson learned for our stubborn man-child)
  9. Plains, Trains and Automobiles (what happens when your man-child is stuck in Adelaide for a week)
  10. Drug and Alcohol Education (our first experience with a dope-smoking son)

As always, feel free to share my posts with friends or relatives (or a publisher if you know one!).

Wishing you all a safe and happy Christmas and a wonderful start to 2012.

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Mother of a Man-Child: Can you be Facebook friends with your kids? June 3, 2011

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I love Facebook.  Those of my friends on Facebook know I’m pretty active and I like to share various things with my connections, whether that’s a strongly held point of view, a cute something my daughter said or did, or even my blog posts (clearly since I write this blog I am probably what some would call an “over-sharer”.)

I like sharing, and I like my friends sharing with me.  Whether it’s the minutiae of their life, or a significant life event, it’s a great way to stay in touch with lots of my friends, family and past colleagues that I wouldn’t otherwise catch up with, whether they live around the corner, interstate or overseas.

My men-children have been on Facebook for a few years now.  Naturally they have amassed a huge number of “friends”.  One has almost 500 friends and one over 900 friends.  Now obviously the term friend is used pretty loosely when it comes to Facebook.  I mean really, how many of them are real friends as opposed to loose acquaintances who just happen to be on Facebook.  And let’s face it (like that pun?), Facebook are doing a very diligent job of late trying to “supersize” us all by shoving every random, vague friend connection down our throats!!!  I too could amass a vast number of friends if I really wanted to.  Just like on twitter (a load of twat I hear you say?).  I mean how many followers is too many – 8000, 20,000?

What is always interesting for me is whom my men-children choose as friends and more importantly whom they don’t.  I know my boys are friends with their cousins and even some aunts.  But they wouldn’t dream of being friends with me, or their father for that matter.  I’ve noticed one or two of my friends who are actually Facebook friends with their teenage kids, but that’s the exception not the rule (they are obviously VERY cool parents!!!)

So it was with some amusement that a couple of my son’s friends sent me a request to be their friend on Facebook last night.  At exactly the same time! Hmmm.  I immediately thought they were having a joke at my expense (they probably were).  And then I thought okay, why not?  Then at least I can see what they write on their walls and what my men-children write back.

So I accepted their friend request.  An hour later my son came downstairs to tell me I had to “un-accept” their friendship on Facebook.   “You can’t be their friends, you’ll see what we talk about” he protested.  Yep!  So he accessed my account and organized for our short Facebook friendships to end – but not before I’d had a quick look at the walls and checked out the minutiae of the men-children’s lives – it’s dead boring really!

Assuming that Facebook is still around when they’re “adults”, I am confident I will eventually win true Facebook friend status with my sons.  For those who can’t imagine life without it, just think of MySpace (Mywho???).

I’d love to hear from you about your experiences on Facebook?  Am I alone in having children who couldn’t possibly befriend their mother on Facebook?  Are you friends with your children, or nieces and nephews?  What would you do if you saw something inappropriate?  Stay silent, tell their parents, or comment on their wall?  I know it would take all my discipline not to say something if I was friends on Facebook with my men-children, so maybe it’s for the best. 🙂

PS.  A chance conversation with father of a man-child just alerted me to the fact that he is in fact friends with one of our men-children.  What!  How did I not know this?  I have a lot to catch up on……who knows what stories and secrets lay hidden in the pages of Facebook?  LOL.