Aging Up but NOT Out!

If you're a parent or a grandparent, you may be thinking "Why in the heck do I need to learn how to text? Texting is just for kids" or "I'm definitely not going to learn something new at my age!"

You may also be wondering what happened to your darling little innocent children or grandchildren who used to love to stay the night and hear you read out loud to them as they helped you turn the pages. In fact, they used to love doing just about anything with you, as long as you were together. When you called them, they would talk, giggle, and laugh with you and tell you about their day.

Where did they go??

If your children or grandchildren have morphed into teenagers, you're probably finding that your phone calls don't get returned, and your emails you send or calls you make go unanswered.

If ANY of this sounds remotely familiar to you, I'd like you to please
PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO WHAT I'M ABOUT TO TELL YOU.

For the most part, teens don't e-mail like their parents and grandparents do. If your calls are going unanswered, it's because most kids don't let their cell phone ring (it's on vibrate), and they hardly ever check voice mail for messages. The only way you're going to get their attention, or get a response is to text them.

Yep, you heard me correctly... you're going to need to learn how to text, so you can stay in touch with your favorite teenager!

When you make the decision to not let a new super-simple technology like texting hinder you or keep you out of your families "communication loop", go ahead and send your first text to your favorite youngster with a cell phone (which BTW I've heard of children as young as 8 years old now have cell phones).

If you're a texting newbie, it's a great excuse to either ask for help (and gain some new respect for wanting to learn) or refer to the Quick Start Guide that is in the very beginning of Read Between the Lines. Also, be sure to add a texting plan with your wireless provider (which there are tons of options, and are now very cost effective), so you're not over-charged. If you want to text for free, you can do so directly on your wireless providers Internet site.

Texting is a fabulous way for parents and grandparents to stay connected to Generation Text; it allows you to easily communicate across generations easily and more often. It's certainly not the same as hearing their voices on the phone, but something is better than nothing, and with texting, you'll be able to reach out more often, giving you the ability to be involved in their lives on a daily basis.

You can say a lot in 160 characters, and you can do it as often as you'd like - and you'll get a response within seconds every single time! What could be better than that? Teens almost always respond to every text within seconds of receiving them. Even if you have an older, low tech, "old school" cell phone, you can send simple texts just to let them know you're thinking about them.

Hi, how was school? or Just thinking of you...xoxoxo, or How was your game today? Even if you just send your note with just a few words, you'll get an instant response! WOO HOO to that!

Yes, we're all aging up, but that doesn't mean we have to age out of the day-to-day activities of our families! And please, don't bother with the "I'm too old, or I don't wanna learn" because there are no excuses to NOT learning how to text. It's too simple, and too important to ignore anymore.

I recommend that we all... Get With It or Get Deleted!