POOR SCOOBY-DOO

It is probably safe to assert that no man is good enough for a father’s daughter and no woman good enough for a mother’s son. How good that potential spouse has to be is known only to the one making the judgment. In most instances no one can fully live up to his or her future in-law’s expectations no matter how hard that person tries. We parents are very protective of our children, even over-protective at times. What allows us to give the future spouse a chance is that we know we have not lived up to our in-law’s expectation of us.

We have two sons-in-law. Both are already very protective of their offspring even as they are still not yet teenagers. Fortunately they are not protecting them from us which allows us to spoil them as much as we can, and, as all grandparents do, go home and leave mom and dad to deal with the fall out. It’s called Parent’s Revenge!

Back in the day when we were young, our parents protected us, but their task was much easier than the task our children have protecting our grandchildren. When it came time for us to raise our children, it was a more difficult task than it was for our parents and not because we were such good children growing up or because our children were so bad. It was a different world out there when we were parenting

And it has only gotten worse for our children raising their children: more violent, more temptations, more chances to get hurt, seriously so. I do not envy our children trying to raise our grandchildren who are “growing up in an unsteady and confusing world,” as the Prayer for Young Persons has it in The Book of Common Prayer. I pray daily for our grandchildren and I pray for their parents.

And yet, there are times when we have to smile. As much as I sometimes rant about how much cell phones seem to be taking control of our lives, the one great advantage is that our children can send us pictures of our grandchildren without having to get them developed and then sending them by snail mail. We receive them almost immediately after they are taken. And because our grandchildren live away, the pictures keep us up to date.

One of the latest is a photo of Carter, two-months old, propped up in his parent’s bed with his trusty sidekick, Carmine, a Shih Tzu, right beside him. They are watching Scooby-Doo cartoons because Carter seems to like all the color. Obviously, so does Carmine who is also enthralled with Animal Planet. We loved the photo. Dad, however, is concerned. He does not want his son getting used to watching too much television. Poor Scooby-Doo.

However, on this one Dad is up against it. Both Carter’s mom and his grandmother still love to watch Scooby. Can the little one get his fill of Scooby and still not become a television junkie? On the other hand, Dad loves to play his video games with his son sitting next to him. Is mom concerned that Carter might become a video-game junkie? Makes you want to smile. In fact it did. Don’t you just love it?