KOTA Territory NewsChildren First: Kids say parents are embarrassing

Children First: Kids say parents are embarrassing

Chris Neyenhouse

You can get a good laugh from the Toyota Highlander commercial where a poor kid is held captive in the car by his lame parents.

But just ask this study hall roundtable of Saint Thomas More juniors and seniors. They say that commercial is too close to reality.

"My dad's car is less than pleasing," said Nick Reagan, a junior at Saint Thomas More. "He's got all his stuff in there. So whenever he allows me to take it out on the weekend, which is not very often, I have to move everything to a corner and tell everyone 'This is my dad's house so don't judge me.'"

So while they do not get picked up from school much anymore, they've got a list of ways their parents can drop off the cool meter.

That starts with Internet use.

"Becoming our friends on Facebook, that's pretty lame," said Reagan. "Especially when they comment on our posts. 'Oh, you have a new girlfriend, that's so cute!'"

A Kaplan test prep survey shows 35% of teens with parents on Facebook aren't friends with them. Nearly 40% admit it's because they've ignored mom or dad's friend request.

Maybe it should be the same with 20–somethings.

Because even my mother posts things on my page like, "We are soooo proud of our son! By the way, who is the girl in those pictures with you?" Apparently parents pretty much stay the same.

Three sport athlete Katy Freidel can sense lameness in the stands all the way from the court.

"My dad once went a little crazy at a game and it gets kind of obnoxious. Sometimes there are obnoxious people yelling at the refs."

A ref might flag parents for the following uncool infractions:

The roundtable's list includes: Playing matchmaker, chaperoning, always hanging around trying to talk to them and their friends and telling lame jokes. Trying to act cool, especially attempts at wearing modern clothing are also on the list.

And while the modern Highlander will change from year-to-year, a parent's ability to embarrass their child will not.