A Week without Texting: This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you!

A few weeks ago we sent out son off to a camp in Colorado for the adventure of a lifetime.  One of the rules for the campers was that they weren’t allowed to take their cellphones. One of the leaders reminded the kids that if they were caught with cellphones, that the phones would be confiscated. Many of the parents, myself included, nodded in agreement. My friend and I discussed how it was important for our kids to let go of their texting for a week and focus on making friendships the old fashioned way. “They have those phones attached to their hips! They can’t do anything without having their phones. They are addicted to texting.” But as the busses pulled away, I came to the realization that my son would be literally half-way across the country and I couldn’t just check in. I couldn’t ask him if he’s having fun, or if he has enough money. I couldn’t just say “I miss you!” You see, I have to admit that I have become almost as accustomed to being connected to my kids as they are to their friends. As our kids get older and further from the safety of Mom and Dad, the thought that they are just a text or a call away is comforting to me. Sometimes my kids can get a little too much courage when arguing via text, but that is far outweighed by the feeling that I can always get ahold of my kids no matter where they are or what they are doing. I often wonder how my parents did it. How did they give us the keys and watch us pull out of the driveway without knowing whether or not we would be able to contact them if we got into a bind, or worse, an accident? I know the gut-wrenching feeling when my kids don’t answer a call or if a text isn’t quickly returned. Aside from the safety aspects of our kids having phones, the convenience of my being able to just call and say “Are you going to be home for dinner?” or if they are on the other side of Walmart, texting to say “Meet me in checkout aisle 9” is just as important. So it wasn’t just my son who had to do a week of adjusting, it was Mom who was doing some adjusting of my own. A day after one son came home, the other left for a different camp downstate, without his phone. Fortunately for me, I can email him as many times as I want just to say “I miss you!”

Published June, 2011