By Jacqueline Miller of Boogers Abroad
Last Wednesday, Sara Olsen, local nurse and mother of two teenagers, sent a simple text message that had her family convinced she was mad at them for a solid week.
Olsen admits she’s been exceptionally stressed lately with her job at the clinic and the uncertainty of the upcoming school year. But when her children texted to ask if they could order a pizza, she wasn’t mad. She was busy. And relieved not to have to worry about dinner that night.
And to the practical 46-year-old, her texted response of “OK” was simple and precise.
“Our mom isn’t usually rude like that,” said Jocyln, 15. “We were like, whoa, what did we do?”
Kate, 14, says that she and her sister were careful not to upset their mother for the following days. “She’s been kind of short with us. Crabby, you know?”
The sisters made an effort to pick up after themselves and empty the dishwasher before their mom had to nag them. They even made pancakes for Sunday breakfast and poured their mother a mimosa.
“Like, she really needs to chill,” Jocyln noted.
It wasn’t until the teens sheepishly asked again to order pizza, a week later, that they confessed they thought their mother was upset with them. They figured perhaps she was frustrated with them for spending money on carryout. Or, since their mom is really into health and nutrition, she might have been annoyed that they’d been eating too much junk food lately.
The teenagers were surprised to learn their mother wasn’t mad at all, despite the so-called angry text.
“I was granting my permission. I still don’t get what all the hullabaloo was about,” Sara Olsen noted as she threw in another load of laundry and yawned loudly.
In fact, much of Ms. Olsen’s generation is oblivious that, at least when texting with younger folk, it’s best to portray approval with “KK” or even writing out, “okay.” An “OK” sent via SMS has a strong sense of “FU” about it, at least to the younger crowd.
Yet, when this was explained to Olsen, she was unconvinced.
“What does KK even stand for? I don’t know that one” she said.
And, shaking her head, “And why in the world would you literally spell out a word that’s an actual acronym? I think you’re mistaken.”
As Olsen collapsed onto the couch, her younger daughter texted, “Can we rent a movie on Amazon?”
The mother replied, “OK.”
*****
About the Author
Jacqueline Miller is the lone female in a house full of guys. She travels freakishly light and can balance two kids on her Dutch bicycle. Her recent articles appear in Parents.com, HuffPost and The Christian Science Monitor. Follow her at www.boogersabroad.com and https://www.facebook.com/boogersabroad.