Driving Me... Crazy

The Oldest got his driver's license two Sundays ago.  Yes, on a Sunday, and yes, it was Mother's Day.  Thanks to the driving school he'd gone to hiring a Registry official to conduct tests for their students, he had to be at the school three towns away at 7:00 that morning.  Hubby took him because I was told I make him nervous...

Well, if he didn't drive so close to the... OMG, WATCH OUT FOR THE PARKED CAR!!!!!

I told Hubby this parental duty was right up there with teaching his sons to pee standing up - ball's in his court.  After all, I'd done the Birds-and-the-Bees talk, the least he could do was teach my oldest baby how to handle 2,000 pounds of steel without killing himself, someone else, or raising my insurance rates anymore than just being a licensed teenage male driver already would.

Since then, he's found every excuse to drive somewhere.  Which in some ways is a good thing - he's picked up the Middle Child at practice, which allows me to stay home with the Preschooler while he naps, he started driving himself to work on Saturdays last week, and he was allowed to go out last Friday night to a friend's house to just hang out.  On the advice of some friends with older kids, we drew up a teen driver contract - one girlfriend said it eliminates a lot of the issues.  I think it will eliminate the playing Mom against Dad we had going on for the first week.

Anyone have any hints to share with the parents of the newly licensed?  Words of wisdom?  Tissues and bottle of wine to share?

Leave A Message At The Tone

I was taught telephone etiquette at a young age. My grandfather was a doctor whose patients would often call the house phone if they needed to reach him quickly.  I was taught to answer the phone appropriately, beginning with a salutation, followed by a "may I help you?", and ending with reading the message back to the caller, having written down everything along with the date and time.  It was clear there was no messing around with this task - it was important and it was to be treated as such.

Fast forward to a long career as an administrative assistant. I still take messages the same way, and have been complimented on my phone "voice" by many... because apparently my manners are rare nowadays.  So based on my history, you might think I've been able to instill the same manners in my children.

Excuse me while I pee myself laughing.

My kids can't get the hang of it. Not sure if it's because they're boys or their generation can only text or tweet one another, but they can't carry on a phone conversation, let alone take a message. So why is this a problem?  Because they keep ANSWERING the phone. How do I know this? Because I listen to the half-messages on the answering machine, the ones left when someone starts to talk and then they answer the phone. Do they tell me that someone called? Nooo..... Do they tell me what the caller wanted? Nooo.... Do they just forget and assume the caller will know that they're boys and can't be trusted to give me a message so the caller will try again? Noooo....

New house rule: no one answers the phone but Mom.

How do you deal with the other people in your house answering the phone? Do they give you your messages in a timely fashion? Were you able to instill good phone manners? If you did, when can my kids visit so you can teach them?

End of the Year

We're almost there, ladies - the end of the school year.  For many of you, it's a bittersweet time, full of memory-making events and photo ops.  Wait, let me hand you the tissues...

For me, it's turning into a 400-yard sprint to the finish, which will be fueled by crockpot meals and caffeine as in years past.  My calendar is chock-full of end-of-the-year concerts and ceremonies and events involving emails requesting my presence and oh-by-the-way-please-bring-two-dozen-individually-wrapped-somethings-for-our-refreshment-table, all being crammed into the last two weeks of May and the first two weeks in June because we had no snow days this year and therefore our kids are not attending school until the 4th of July.

And the planning for summer activities is underway as well.  Since I'm not working full-time and Hubby works second shift, our kids have more "kid" time during the summer than many of their friends.  But even those weeks have already filled up quickly with a family vacation, a nephew's wedding, a week away at camp for the Oldest.  Add into the mix football starting the second week of August for the Middle Child and the Oldest working this summer, and the "free" time isn't so readily available.

Do you find your end-of-the-school-year jam-packed?  And how's your summer shaping up?