I thought boomersis' post was funny because I had been on the receiving end of the being missed by family. This one guy I dated was the oldest of four boys and his mom really liked having another girl in the house. Once we stopped dating, I would see her all over the place and she would tell me that I should talk to him and that we needed to work things out.

The really cute thing about it was his brother, who was two at the time, was so upset about me not coming to the house anymore. When I would see him at school games he would always whine to me about coming over. It was very depressing for me too. I didn't get anymore portraits of myself made out of a paper plates and macaroni noodles!

In answer to Dot's question. I think conversations on the home front don't work for two big reasons. One is the distractions of the home. While you might think your solely concentrating on asking your child questions, you are also probably getting ready to make dinner, going out the door to pick up another kid, etc... Going out with just them puts the focus on them and their concerns. The other reason is home is your turf. Especially when your a teen, home is not where you want to be, you want to be out. Home is where the parents are. Once they walk through the door, their bodies are already on the defensive.

Anyway, that's my two cents.

[ November 13, 2002, 05:00 PM: Message edited by: Candice Johnson ]