This clipping says a lot about Margaret, her relationship with her grown children and the times she lived in.  It also says a lot about how technology changes the social order. The author of this article did not suggest this 'new technology'  reason to explain the 'new relations' between parents and children, but, then, he (or she)  hadn't read McLuhan.

How the modern conditions that exist between parents and children would startle our forefathers. To go back only as far as the Sanford and Marion era, imagine the astonishment of the much brought up Tommy Barlow at not being obliged to stand up whenever his parents come into the room, at not being expected to take bows at all manner of odd times, at not having to address the father and mother as "Sir" and "Madam."

Modern fathers and mothers expect far less deference and outward show of respect than they did in the days of old, but there was never a time when so much good feeling existed between them and the younger generation as now. There is far less formality, but a great deal more friendship.  We see parents and children, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, sharing the same occupation and enjoying the same amusements, both out of doors and in.  They are companions, comrades.  One is often as active as the other, and as full of zest. The elders nowadays have embarked on a new role. They do not pose as Know It Alls, or for ever in the right.  This used to be a teasing trait that often led to friction. Modern elders let the young ones have their say, and even listen to them with attention.  They admit the value of new ideas, for their own parts, are always ready to learn. Men and women of fifty, and even sixty, attack new amusements, learning new languages, take music and sketching lessons and remain receptive to the last. They do not let themselves grow rusty, fresh interests preserve youth.

In the meantime, young people grow up much slower than they did. They remain longer at school or college and marry later. Consequently, a time arrives when there is a meeting of the generations.  Parents and children find themselves surprisingly on the same level. 

A pregnant sign of the times is the way Christian names are used in families. In many, almost as much as Father and Mother we will hear parents called by their Christian names.

The modern grandmother can tell stories and spoil the children as much as grandmothers  a half a century ago. A young boy asked his mother the other day, "Which is oldest, you or grannie?" Both were wearing white, both carrying sticks, indeed, Grannie was the prettiest of the two.  The question was quite excusable. The old are far less dreary and decrepit. Three or four generations can meet at the game of golf, is that not proof enough? 

Statisticians claim we are a longer lived race than ever. Among other things this helps to explain the relations that exist nowadays between parents and children.