MRS. REGAN

I have been thinking long and hard about this subject. The subject of what my children's friends should call me. When my son was young I initially had a problem with kids calling me Mrs. Regan . I think the difficulty was my ability to cross over into being a Mrs. Regan. This made me feel old, and I just wasn't ready to be a seen as a Mrs. to children.

So here I am ten years later with my 5 year old, and all of her friends call me Maureen, but something has changed. Perhaps I have grown up and am older. Perhaps I realize that the casualness of it all has created no separation between adult and child. This can be masqued as a cool and groovy thing. Being friends with your kids friends, but somehow this isn't always the best approach. It doesn't mean that I can't be friendly to them, it just means that children should know that a separation exists between them and adults. The difference which embraces experience, wisdom and most of all respect. Who is in control here?

My daughter's friend who is five years old was sitting in the back of my car singing. She asked my daughter what she thought of her voice and my daughter didn't reply. I jumped in and filled the space quickly by paying her a nice compliment " you have a very beautiful voice, and it is so nice to hear you sing" I said. As I glanced in the rear view mirror I caught her rolling her eyes at me as she flippantly replied " I wasn't talking to you!"

I think I'm ready to be addressed as Mrs. Regan.