"How Greg and Jer realized that a key performance indicator of being a good dad is when your kids are angry at you...and why they should call their parents to apologize for their own behavior."
Last week, I shared a post about kids being on Instagram/Snapchat too much and a new device called Circle with Disney that can help you monitor and control it.
While we don't all want to have a Chinese-like police state controlling our lives, as the parents of teenagers with unlimited access to devices and the Internet, sometimes we may feel it's a good thin.
Greg Teitel, a friend of mine since 1st grade, texted me to say that he bought one based upon my recommendation.
Within minutes, his teenager daughter was furious with him, for the "government clampdown."
Greg, of course, was thrilled. In his estimation, she was spending way too much time on Snapchat, so this was a saviour.
I called Greg, shared my favorite Louis C.K. quote "I'm not here to make you happy," and it dawned on us...as dads, if you're doing something that gets your teenager to the point where they aren't talking you, it could be an indication of epic failure...or of epic success.
At which point, we said, "well maybe we should call our own parents and apologize for all the times we were ticked off at our parents when we were teenagers and they were right?"
"We could," I said, "but I'll put it on my blog and we can send it to them!"
Anyway...enjoy bringing the police state to your own teenagers and enjoying the silence ;-)
(That was a joke, Tonka!)
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