Talking To My Kids

I’ve been setting up some interviews and both people that I’m going to speak with suggested between two and four in the afternoon. I accepted, as I need to speak with them, and my reasoning was that it was okay because my kids are going to be late coming home from school today.

At first glance, it appears that I have young kids who can’t be unsupervised. I don’t. Both of mine are teenagers. And for a moment, I wondered why I had given that excuse. And then it hit me.

There is a lot of silence in my house these days. Amazing, when you consider that I have two chatty girls, and one of those chatty girls thinks talking and breathing are intimately connected. But they are teenagers and they both value their alone time. Neither one seeks me out all that often to talk to me.

Except for when they first walk in the door after school. Then they are talkative. They want to tell me everything about their day, although little of what they tell me has anything to do with academics. That talkative time lasts for a limited period. And once it’s over, it’s over.

So although my kids really are self sufficient, I don’t want to miss out on hearing about their day. I don’t want to gloss over the stories that are “too long to text” and have to wait until they get home. Because if I’m not there, I won’t hear it.

And then I’m missing out.