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Family argument

Players:

Father, mother, grandmother, grandfather, child 1 and child 2

(The family (father, mother, child 1 and child 2) are sitting at the table, father is reading the newspaper and mother is drinking a cup of coffee)

Child 1:	(Pleased) the holidays are finally there. I can sleep in again and there’s no school.
Father:	(Peers over the newspaper) Ach, I have taken time off from tomorrow. You two know that the garage needs to be cleaned and as the holidays are starting (looks at the kids), it’s really good timing. I ask you to get up at 6 o’clock. You know that you can be useful.
Child 1:	Good joke, I’ve never laughed so much.
Father:	(Baffled) you what? I meant it seriously. You have so much holiday that you can surely help your father for a couple of days.
Child 2:	Is that really serious? I wanted to travel to the lakes with my friends tomorrow.
Mother:	Why is this the first I hear about it?
Child 1:	Better question: „Why do we hear about this today? “ I do not agree at all. (Sticks up his finger) the first day’s holiday and we are expected get up early and work all day long.
(There is a knock on the door)
Father:	(Calls) Come in!
(Grandma and grandpa come in)
Mother:	(To the kids) fetch your grandparents a couple of stools!
Grandpa:	(To the kids) Ach leave it, we won’t be staying too long anyway.
Grandma:	Yes, we only wanted to discuss a couple of things for our family holiday.
Child 2:	Ah yes, the family holiday. I don’t think that I’ll come. I really can’t be bothered with boring museum visits and getting up early. I wanted to do something with my friends anyway.
Child 1:	If she isn’t going, I’ll stay here as well.
Father:	(Thumps his fist on the table) what a cheek from you two. We are a family and not everyone can do what they feel like all of the time.
Mother:	What is the problem? It is nice to do something with the whole family. And anyway (to child 2), you friends are not a good example for you.
Grandpa:	You should be pleased that your parents take you on holiday. We had to harvest potatoes in the summer holiday in our day. If we had spoken to our father like that...
Grandma:	It really is a shame that you don’t want to come. It is better if they do something with their friends which is fun than to run around on holiday with a long face all day.
Father:	(Annoyed to grandma) I have a few words to say too. We are after all, a family and no one is an exception. We cannot let them run circles around us.
Grandpa:	(Sadly to grandma) I think it’s better if we go on holiday alone. Although it really could have been a nice holiday. But that is the youth of today.
(Grandma and grandpa leave the room)
Mother:	(To father) Now you’ve made a nice mess of it. We could have talked about it calmly
Father:	(Snapping) we can’t please everyone.
Child 1:	You two only think about yourselves. Our fun does not interest you in the slightest.
Child 2:	Exactly.
(Child 1 and child 2 leave)
Mother:	Yes, it is difficult to place people with different ideas under one umbrella.
Father:	That is true!
Theme suggestion: Each person has different ideas in life; how can we bring them all under one umbrella?

Author: Thomas Baberowski