Over the weekend, Kiera asked if she and a few of her friends could hang out at our house after school on Monday.

Of course I said yes.

There were five of them, and as I watched them spend the afternoon together, I couldn't help comparing it to what my own friends and I were like at that age.

I'm 44. Born in the '80s, raised in the '90s, and somehow survived the early 2000s.

Naturally, there are going to be differences between our generation and theirs. Some made me smile. Others made me realize there are a few things I hope we don't lose along the way.

The things that made me smile came first.

Just like my friends and I, they were giggly, chatty, and full of stories. Sure, the conversation drifted to boys. Apparently that hasn't changed in decades.

The difference is how we went about it.

Back then, we'd gather around the family telephone, convince someone to dial a boy's number, and then squeeze our heads together trying to hear his voice through the earpiece. Half the excitement was not knowing who would answer or imagining what was happening on the other end of the line.

Yesterday, the family phone sat untouched while everyone crowded around a cellphone watching the boy one of the girls liked through a CCTV camera as he biked down our street.

Technology really said, "Let's skip the imagination."

Thankfully, the crush updates only lasted about ten minutes before they all settled down and started reviewing for a quiz and working on their homework. That part made me smile too.

There was one thing, though, that made me pause.

When I was growing up, if I visited someone's house, greeting the adults was automatic. A simple "Good afternoon," "Hello po," or even a mano if it was someone's grandparents. Before leaving, we'd say thank you and goodbye.

That's how I was raised, and it's the same thing Jay and I try to teach our kids.

One of the girls did exactly that. The others... not so much.

No greeting when they arrived. No acknowledgment of the adults in the room. One even stretched out comfortably on the couch as though she'd been living there for years.

I don't think they're bad kids.

If anything, I think it simply reminded me that good manners don't just appear on their own. They're taught. They're modeled. And like so many other little habits, they slowly disappear if nobody passes them on.

Maybe that's one tradition I hope never goes out of style.

Technology will change. Music will change. The way teenagers talk to their crushes will definitely change.

But I hope "Hello," "Thank you," and "Goodbye" never become old-fashioned.