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My Vacation is Not About My Teenagers’ Happiness
If your social media feed looks anything like mine these days, there is no shortage of smiling, happy, seemingly perfect families living their best life on their summer vacation.
They’re dressed in coordinated outfits on some exotic beach with the sun setting behind them. They’re sailing on a yacht. They’re posing in front of the Eiffel Tower while gallivanting through Europe.
Despite having just returned from our own family vacation, not a single picture exists to prove that the four of us spent three whole days together.
That’s because at the exact moment we arrived at our rented house in the mountains, both of our children headed straight for their respective bedrooms and promptly shut their doors. And aside from mostly silent dinners devoured in less than five minutes and an excursion to the local ice cream shop (the only activity we managed to interest them in) we barely saw our offspring.
I wasn’t concerned. If they needed us, I figured they would text us from the cell phones that always appear surgically attached to their hands.
This behavior wasn’t unexpected. Nor was it the result of an argument or disagreement. It’s just the way our particular family functions. (Or, probably more accurately, doesn’t function. Whatever.)
