Mum’s the word on Facebook
" Mum, if you don't behave, we're coming out there to have you put in a home. Don't you dare get onto the back of a motorbike... it's not safe!"
Wise, but futile words from my 21 year-old daughter to me on Facebook.
It works both ways, this Facebook relationship that I have with my two eldest children. I read their posts and they scare the bejesus out of me, and then I post something and they're immediately on my case threatening homes for the insane!
Horrendous mother that I am, I reluctantly left my eldest children then aged 17 and 20, four years ago, to live on the other side of the world. Well, to be fair, they had already left home and then I did the runner. Since then, I've come to realise that parenting older children from a different hemisphere might actually be more productive than living with them .
You know why?... Because they actually listen to me. Well, by that I mean they seem to take notice of my posts and even sometimes act upon my motherly advice. Hell, even a whole bunch of their friends have recently requested to be my friends...What the?
Social networking has brought us closer, and now it doesn't matter so much that we live on opposites sides of the world. I can track what the little buggers are getting up to, I can see what their friends are saying and I can join in with their banter. Wow, my kids even tell me that they love me via Facebook - that's sooooo embarrassing!
Thank god for Facebook. Now I've got a real understanding of their daily lives, their hopes, their dreams and their disasters. I have far better insight than I ever had when communication from my children came in the form of a grunt in passing I do have to resist the overwhelming urge to moan about their god-awful spelling though.
Psst... I'm keeping one step ahead because now I twitter too…..@Fruitloopmum if you’re interested. My kids haven't started yet, but I'm sure it wont be long.