Dear Grandparenting: Before beginning my little rant, let me say I’m no prude. I may have walked a straight and narrow path in life, but I have certainly known passion. So I have no problem with showing affection. As they say, the best things in life are free.

Where I draw the line is when someone like my granddaughter starts to get it on right under my nose, like when I enter a room and she is locked in a deep kiss with her boyfriend. Other times I’ve caught her boyfriend with his hands where they should not be in public. I think you get the idea. I told her to knock it off, because there’s a time and place for everything. Do today’s teens have no shame? — Lee R., Frederick, MD

Dear Lee: Today’s generation marches to a different set of social cues. America is now barraged by behavior that many consider risqué or downright indecent, so much so that people have taken to sprinkling their conversation with “PDA” — shorthand for “public displays of affection.”  Nowhere is this development more problematic than in America’s school systems, where the prevalence of PDAs tends to desensitize the younger generation to the shock value of actions you described.  

Grand Remark

When her grandson Nathan, 11, dropped by late one afternoon for a visit, Gretchen Brooks of Wappingers Falls, N.Y., figured she’d set another place at the dinner table.

Nathan wolfed down three doughnuts and a soda as they chatted, and then asked what was cooking in the oven.

“This look of horror came over his face when I mentioned the spinach casserole,” said Gretchen. “Nathan stood up and said, ‘Grandma. You know I’m trying to give up spinach. It’s very fattening.’ Then he hopped on his bike and went home.”

(Dee and Tom, married more than 50 years, have eight grandchildren. Together with Key, they welcome questions, suggestions and Grand Remarks of the Week. Send to P.O. Box 27454, Towson, MD, 21285.)