It wasn't like this in your day. You used to have to get up at dawn, peel the potatoes for the entire family, cook the breakfast, tend to a sick goat, then jog six miles in your bare feet to school with a satchel laden with Greek and Latin books, as well as sods of turf for the classroom fire.
But kids today? They can do nothing except play those cretinous video games, pausing only to eat or shop at your expense. Christmas is going to be hell - they'll lounge about the house, whining and bickering when you want to watch classics like The Magnificent Seven and Beavis and Butthead do America.
Are they even capable of making a cup of tea for their long-suffering parents? Not a bit of it.
But wait - dry those tears! Now there's a way to convince them that making a cup of tea is a video game. The new Thermocolor kettle starts off blue but, when the water boils, its hue changes to a violent pink. As it cools down it reverts to its original colour.
Watch their little faces as you explain that the only way to "play the game" is to make another cup of tea for you!
The Russell Hobbs Thermocolor Kettle, £40 sterling €67, is available in blue-pink, black-white and dark green-lime green, from Comet stores in Britain until New Year, then in all stores.
Got a gizmo? smaccarthaigh@irish-times.ie
