SassTown

I've been accused over the years of being undemonstrative and that 's OK because the only people that voice that opinion usually just aren't part of the Mayor's inner circle. The kids were all given plenty of sensory stimulation as babies and children.

Hugging and kissing people I've just met? Not so much. That fake Beverly Hills 90210 thing is so back in vogue amongst the pre-teen, teenage culture right now and I really disapprove. It smacks of insincerety. One minute they are hugging as a greeting among girlfriends and a few skips down the road they're including their new friends who are boys in the ritual.

Being that I have 3 teenagers (all girls) still at home I've explained my feelings on this subject but being teens they are so much smarter and cooler than me when it comes to relationships with those outside of our family. So I break out the big guns of directness and let these young'uns know that they need to keep their boobage off the adolescent boys they hang out with, no matter how casual their relationship is.

I've only had the experience of raising one teenage boy (who as you can see above is now a young man). I have tried to communicate to my girls how mothers of teenage boys feel about the girls (even when they are just friends) who are overly aggressive in displaying their affection will feel about said girls. I recall succinctly how I used to feel about that subject when the Prince was in a crowd of giggling females displaying their young female charms in a very overt way. I didn't like it. And I wasn't quite as cool about their hanging out as I might have been if they'd show some discretion and kept their hands to themselves.

Girls (unfortunately mine included) are just so aggressive these days. I realize they are growing up receiving a lot of mixed messages and it's confusing. The marketing machine has oversexualized everything for this generation. Don't even get me started on the teen clothing available to young ladies, you can read that rant in Abercrombie Is A Bitch. It's hard to clothe your young girls in a fashionable way that is not too revealing.

No wonder Oprah and a slew of other relationship gurus are making bank on this phenomenon. I'm saying, "Girls (young and old alike) have some respect for yourselves and quit chasing after those guys like crazy hyenas." And quit falling for all the bullsh*# slung your way when all it really means is he is just not that in to you.

And believe me, you deserve to have some one who is crazy into you.

Which brings me to my original purpose of this little story and that is to say that while we don't hug and kiss all of the time around here, when we do it can be a little overboard.

Our spontaneous bursts of affection for each other are often unexpected, or sometimes posed for the camera, but there is never a doubt that they are authentic.

They are all crazy about each other (all while often driving each other crazy).

On a road trip old Miss S was being surly in the car. So when we stopped for a breather I gave her a good lickin'. Nothing like an unexpected lickin' from your mom to horrify an adolscent and get them to snap out of it after they finish yelling "sttoooppp".

Of course now the whole licking as a means of displaying affection (or sometimes provoking your opponent) has gotten to be a family tradition.

So there you have it. I have this family that I am absolutely crazy about. But let me put it on the record, I have never licked the dog.