Teenagers and the power of the cell phone!

While I was thinking of recipes to post I got a phone call from my mom. She has been teen sitting this week because me and my husband are out of town. Then I got some text messages from a few of my teens. There is some minor upheaval at home (this often happens when mom is out of town) that needed mom intervention, so of course I had to brain storm. I do this often. As you know kids don't come with manuals. That would be too easy. And although I find the more I live with my teenagers that they are in a lot of ways, universally the same, they are different. What works with one doesn't always work with another one. But, I have found a weak spot in them all. The cell phone! This little device has magic like powers. It is what my kids consider their life line and without it they can't go on. This is how they communicate with their friends and even when in the presence of their friends, they use their cell phones to talk to other friends. Now, we have days like Sunday that they aren't allowed to use it. This is family time and family time should be uninterrupted time. I often picture us walking hand in hand at the park. Or sitting at the table playing board games, laughing and having a good time. Now I need that noise when you drag the arm of a record player across the record because that isn't really how Sundays work. But a well meaning mother can dream.
The removal of mom in our home such as when I go out of town with their dad/my husband,  seems to create a sense of  chaotic independence (not the good kind) in my teens. Forgetting all the while that I am but a phone call away. they seem to think that our house rules have been abolished and the well organized, stable home life is no more. As if the queen has been dethroned. And though she is pretty good at keeping down the fort, Grandma is overwhelmed with the six to one scenario and at times will reluctantly call mom.
Of course, don't get me wrong. I love all these teenagers as much as I did when they were born. But life has changed drastically since they were in diapers. Even since elementary school. They are on their way to adulthood and yet still children. They want to be on their own yet still dependent on a stable, organized family life. They are still learning that independence doesn't mean doing whatever you want regardless of consequences. They are also still learning that trying to overthrow the adult in charge is an automatic loss of cell phone. Once that happens, order is restored and we live in harmony once more.........for a little while