Teenage Parenting in '08

Run out the door. Load the kids in the car. Off to soccer practice, ballet practice, music lessons, football, baseball, hockey, underwater basket weaving, the list goes on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AH!!!! Are we an exhausted group of parents these days or what? Then they are driving and off with their friends and you feel you've lost all control. When was the last time you actually talked to your child? Not about the schedule or the chores, but about politics, religion, music, art, literature.
You laugh, but I'm serious. Our children are people, just like us, they have opinions, ideas, and questions, but for some reason today's society has pigeon- holed them into a series of events and conflicting schedules that no longer revolve around the dinner table or the home. How many times have you had dinner in the car? How many times have you missed bedtime and had to carry a sleeping child into the house? How many times does your teenager run in, grab a sandwich and change of clothes only to dart out the door to the mall, gym or out with friends? It's probably too many times for you to comfortably admit.
The perfect world would revolve around dinner at 5:00 pm at a perfectly set family table with mom, dad and the little ones, perhaps even a grandparent or two. Today's world doesn't present that option so easily. Advice columnists and authors have said how important it is to make the time to do these activities. While it is a great idea, and has a sound basis, they are missing the point.
So what is the point? It is not where you are when you communicate with your child, but that you actually do it. Parents in our fast-paced world don't understand what that means and are having a hard time finding a definition. This is a discussion forum to figure out where we are headed and how to get there.