Kids respond to their parents addictions

An article in today's Wall Street Journal that is rather funny, if you can get past how sad it is, regarding kids' reactions to their parent's Blackberry addictions:

As hand-held email devices proliferate, they are having an unexpected impact on family dynamics: Parents and their children are swapping roles. Like a bunch of teenagers, some parents are routinely lying to their kids, sneaking around the house to covertly check their emails and disobeying house rules established to minimize compulsive typing. The refusal of parents to follow a few simple rules is pushing some children to the brink. They are fearful that parents will be distracted by emails while driving, concerned about Mom and Dad's shortening attention spans and exasperated by their parents' obsession with their gadgets. Bob Ledbetter III, a third-grader in Rome, Ga., says he tries to tell his father to put the BlackBerry down, but can't even get his attention. "Sometimes I think he's deaf," says the 9-year-old.

Yeah, we've heard it all before. But the most inane comment comes from Jim Balsillie, the chairman of Research In Motion, who says children should ask themselves, "Would you rather have your parents 20% not there or 100% not there?" Uhhh, there's no such thing as "20% not there." You're there or you are not. Kids know the difference.