i knew you when

when i first became a teen, dad sat me down for a heart to heart talk. no, it wasn't the birds and bees lecture. it was about I KNEW YOU WHEN. basically, what it boils down to is this:

in life you have lots of decisions you make about things you will or won't do. according to dad, you should always take a step back and think before you do something, because you don't want someone someday to be able to laugh and tell your kids embarrassing "yeah, i knew your mom/dad when ..." stories.

my friends and family tell me they go through this all the time. as a parent you have to decide whether its better that the kids hear directly from you about what you were like, or if they hear about it from the people you used to party with. because if there are things you did as a teen, bet on it ... your kids are going to hear about it someday.

so, i tell my kids what i was like back then. they don't seem particularly disturbed by how stupid i was. oddly enough, they simply attribute it all to "the old days." makes me kind of wonder sometimes.