Family?

Today I went to the dentist. While waiting I noticed a mom with two boys that came in. Her boys were around 12 and 9. One was getting a tooth pulled and the other for a routine appt... The mom walks in with the boys and says I'll be right back, she leaves and isn't back for 20-30 min when she does return she was on the phone. The boys were very well behaved, one had a cell phone or some other game playing or texting gadget that occupied the oldest while they other looked at a magazine.

Maybe it's the age of my young children, but I was surprised by the fact that that the mom didn't interact with her sons at all. She carried on her own life oblivious to the fact that her oldest son was a little unsure of his tooth extraction. They could have been strangers, mom didn't even pause to reassure or check her son as he went to the exam room, she just chatted away on the phone. How sad to be so caught up in yourself.

Maybe this is one of the reasons teenagers want to hang out with their friends rather than family. Hopefully not our boys.