Teen Talk Tenure

"You don't have to be cool
To rule my world.
Ain't no particular sign
I'm compatable with. . .

I just want your extra time and your
X X X X X Kiss. . . " - Prince

There is nothing better than the first slobbery, open-mouthed kiss from your child. When they're a little older, they grab your ears and smother your face with sweet smooches. You'll begin to notice, as they enter adolescence, that the kisses are considerably fewer, and farther between. . . and definitely more contrived.

By the time you drop them off at high school, if you get one at all, it's generally an air-kiss high and to the right of the ear.

And the next thing you know, their actions just scream, Hey Mom! Kiss THIS!

By the time my youngest, now five, is finished being a teenager, I'll have had one in my house for twenty years. As I am only shy of seven years into the gig, it occurs to me that this "Teen Talk" think could turn into a long career.

No, I don't have to be cool to rule their world. Apparently I am as un-cool as they come. But my reign as the Mom, Highest Authority in The Manic Land of the Teens (why Bi-polar when you can borrow it??) is secure, for at least another fourteen years.

Someone help me. . .