I took my son and his girlfriend to Cornwall for the August bank holiday weekend and we stayed in a mobile home in a holiday park. That was a treat for me. I loved it. We surfed at Widemouth Bay for 3 solid days, ate Cornish pasties for lunch and each evening went out for dinner.
On the second evening we went to a fancy hotel restaurant and sat at a table opposite a young family - man, woman, and two girls, both around 10 years old I guessed. The girls were in smart matching dresses and wore braided hair. The man and woman sat opposite each other and the the girls did the same. The girls chatted and laughed together.
A perfect family gathering on an evening out.
Except what drew my attention was that the man and woman spent the whole of the meal on their smartphones. Not once did they interact with the girls. Not once did they engage in conversation or take an interest in what the girls were doing. They ordered their food, and tapped away; the food arrived and they tapped away, they ate their food (one handed with a fork) and tapped away. The bill came and they tapped away. They tapped their way outside and into the night.
There are more questions than answers. But how can today's children grow into kind and responsible adults when their parents/guardians are so oblivious to the social norms? Or maybe I witnessed what has become the social norm. At 10 years old your mind is in constant learning mode - learn how to behave in a restaurant, learn how to interact with other people, learn the art of conversation. But not with these adults, it seems. In a few short years those girls will fly the nest and make their own lives. How will they behave with their own children?
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