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LAST SATURDAY night marked the chance for me to feel
old once again. My second son, Rupert celebrated his 21st birthday
and capped it by formally introducing to the family his first-ever
girlfriend, Lalaine, an 18-year old hotel and restaurant management
student.
Also, this marked the time when
all of my three kids were officially declared “in a
relationship.” And I hope and pray that they do not become too
serious about it until they’re gainfully employed.
The problem is, I started feeling
helpless when Rupert invited his close friends and basketball mates,
about 15 of them to drink San Mig Light at our house, that lasted
until 3:16 in the morning of Sunday.
I kept my cool. This reminded me
that there was also a time in my life, decades ago, when I was so
full of energy that I was at times on the same boat with Rupert,
except that I was more responsible, studious, and could survive with
only P20 in my wallet.
“Don’t worry,” said Bonnie,
my roommate who tried to pacify me. “Today is Rupert’s special
day. He’s a fine, young man who wants to enjoy his birthday and
summer vacation, too. That’s all.”
I was not convinced particularly
when I stuck my head outside the main door of the house. I was
reluctant to go to our garage and into our garden. I knew I’d be
walking into pool of debris. Imagine the magnanimity of this sort of
problem when you don’t have any house help.
Bonnie and Rupert assured me that
it was not a problem, after all. “OK, fine, whatever!” I said in
reply. I took it to mean they’ll clean it up.
Then I went back to sleep at
3:27am. I woke up at ten and began to reflect on what’s happening
around the house. “Am I breeding my own version of flexicurity?”
I told myself.
Consciously, I started tracing
“flexicurity” to Denmark as a welfare state model that allowed
unparalleled flexibility to its employers to hire and fire their
workers and allows the state to provide high unemployment benefits
to the jobless.
Forgive my heavy orientation of
these buzzwords. I have an understanding of buzzwords like barnacles
do to an aging Philippine Navy ship.
So maybe it’s an unfounded
fear. I hope Rupert does not in any way resemble a person who
aspires to benefit from a familial flexicurity.
I could raise this as part of the
basic issue in responsible parenting, particularly from one alert
reader who was telling me to spare the rod, just the same. I could
even ask WHY this particular man who is not even a lawyer was
telling me how to discipline my children.
Could it be that he needs to talk
to somebody, like a newspaper columnist minding his own business?
Let me see. According to the best
scientific estimates, 97.3 percent of my readers are also
professionals, married, and with fumbling kids too. I could point
out that, judging from their reaction to my articles, there are only
two topics that are most interesting to them.
These are: One, management
buzzwords they probably don’t know from Adam. And two, how I
translate them into…nothing, but interesting corporate pieces, if
not something that fits into the pages of Our Daily Bread.
I’ll leave it to you to accept
the definition of “interesting.” But I should explain that being
in a “corporate” setting that is abundantly blessed with people
full of strategies with natural ingredients to maintain a successful
business, turning it into a management experience with a humorous
slant must be too difficult to imagine.
I must say that it is always a
wonderful experience I will remember until long after I get a full
eight-hour sleep. But I have to say that once I got out of it,
I’ll feel a great deal better except when I think that RB, my
eldest son may be tempted to do it again in July when he celebrates
his 23rd birthday.
Rey Elbo is a business
consultant specializing in human resources and total quality
management as a fused specialty. Reader’s feedback may be sent to
kairoshq@info.com.ph
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