TV With Mrs. Cranky
The other
night I was in bed watching TV with Mrs. Cranky and a commercial came on that
just set me off.
A young man
walks into his parent’s bedroom to let them know he just had a “minor fender-bender
in a way-too narrow drive thru.” He
relates that he has called the insurance company and goes on about how great
this company is in resolving any problems…I assume this was the commercial
portion.
 |
| "I had a minor fender-bender" |
Mind you
this kid is clearly not a dope-head, had obviously not been drinking, and
appeared to be a level headed young man probably, by appearance, an honor student
and tuba player in the band. Mid-way
through his accident explanation the mom calmly spits out, “Four weeks without the car!” and the kid meekly replies, “Oh, OK, thanks” and slinks out of the
room.
 |
| "Four weeks no car!" |
I, as
sometimes is my wont, went off on this commercial.
“What the hell! Is that supposed to be ‘good parenting?’ The
kid has a minor accident and you ground him? Don’t ask is he ok, don’t ask what
the damage is, just show how tough you are and ground him for a month! Whoopie, aren’t you parent of the year!”
“It’s just a commercial.”
“I don’t care, it pisses me off,
these commercials and TV shows are always demonstrating how to be the tough
parent with a teenager, I guarantee none of these writers have ever had a
teenager; if they did they would
appreciate what a good polite kid this is!”
“It’s just a commercial.”
“I don’t care, it sends a message
about parenting that is just unfair, unreal, and stupid; and why doesn’t the
kid act like a real teenager and start whining, ‘Ah
mom four weeks, that is so unfair!’ I’ll tell you why, because the TV parent
always says, ‘Want to go for eight weeks?’
and the kid whimps out…which is also ridiculous.”
Reality
would be:
“What, four weeks, you can’t stop me
for four weeks, just try.”
“Now it’s eight weeks young man.”
“Fine, I hate you, I wish you were
dead and I was never born, you are ruining my life, and by the way the accident
was not even my fault and no, I am not hurt, as if you care. I’m going over to
Bobby’s house and watch porn and smoke pot because he has cool parents.”
"Way to go; nice parenting, see you
on Dr. Phil jerkweeds!"
“It’s just commercial.”
“Oh yeah, but it still annoys me.”
“I know; it’s ok.”
I may get
carried away from time to time.
We raised 4 boys. I can remember each and every "fender bender". Not once did we ground them. An accident is just that..an accident. Thankfully no teenagers were hurt in the raising of them. Just like when I had a few "fender benders" as a teen. No grounding..want to know why..I sure as heck wasn't going to drive them all over hell's green acres for 4 weeks!
ReplyDeleteNow I realize why this commercial bothered me!!
ReplyDelete1. clearly this kid is okay because he was able to walk unaided into his parents bedroom
ReplyDelete2. he did declare it to be a minor fender bender
3. if I was that mum, I would have jumped out of bed and asked was he sure he was okay, then gone to check the car while hubby gave the kid a lecture before declaring repairs are coming out of your allowance son.
4. THIS is why I ignore commercials.
Youngsters in my day were lucky to have five minutes let alone four weeks. I can't keep up with changing times....
ReplyDeleteI know exactly what commercial you are talking about! When I had my one and only accident at age 19, the insurance company contacted my parents way before I managed to get home!
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, this parenting stye presumably raised this this straight arrow, high achieving kid who is obviously going to go places.
ReplyDeleteThis kind of parenting only works on TV with writers who have no children and no idea how to parent.
DeleteNever grounded for the minor accident ~ we've all been there, eh? But sitting at a light & watch said son cruise by with his buddy before school was out? You betcha.
ReplyDeleteWe've tried, but T.C. and I cannot watch TV together. She gets frustrated with me, as I tend to channel hop way too much for her. I'll even channel hop when Jeopardy is on, and it's the only program I will faithfully watch each and every evening.
ReplyDeleteIf I've seen a commercial once, that's enough. I'll go to another channel and see what's on there. It's all mindless drivel anyway, and the plot isn't going to change whether I'm watching or not. Plus, I have some sort of internal clock that tells me when to flip back to the program I'm actually interested in. She just goes off to watch Netflix, muttering under her breath.
He is the kid we all would love to have raised. He fessed up, did his homework on the insurance and accepted punishment. Think you might be right on how it really would have gone.
ReplyDeleteIt's just a commercial, Joe. Take a deep breath.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day and weekend. ☺
I think there was supposed to be a bit of black humor in there: Imagining the kid weave his story he had no doubt practiced all evening, then being so relieved to get it over with that he accepts his grounding and heads to his room double-time to exhale. In real life, yeah, that would have been pretty harsh and cold.
ReplyDeleteSo....not a true reflection of life as you know it? You know, I've seen that commercial and it didn't even register with me...how sad is that? You are quite right.
ReplyDeleteWith 4 boys, Hick's car-buying policy was to find a cheap vehicle that ran good. "Because you know they're gonna wreck it."
ReplyDeleteI see that commercial several times a day, without thinking much about it. Now I'm gonna hate it. But not as much as the one with the Statue of Liberty in the background.
Now you understand why i gave up TV except when at someone else's home and they turn it on. This is stuff i don't want to waste time being angry about.
ReplyDeleteYou should take up photography Joe. Not digital photography, but film photography. You could install a darkroom down in the basement, develop your own film, and cuss the paper when your print doesn’t come out right..
ReplyDeleteIt’s much more fulfilling than cussing a TV set:)
I think your version is more realistic.
ReplyDelete