We temporarily misplaced a grandkid the other day. The lady of the house made the mistake of putting him down for a nap without outfitting him with a GPS. In our new big bed, it took awhile to locate him.

I don't mean to suggest that this bed is oversized, but it has this in common with the Great Wall of China and the pyramids of Egypt: They are all man-made objects that can be seen from the space shuttle.

Ever see the mattress commercial in which a glass of red wine is placed on one spot and the people jump on another spot, and the glass doesn't even jiggle? We tried that with our new mattress. I forgot where I placed the glass and haven't seen it since. I hope we find it before the kid does.

The kid is into a self-reliant phase. He makes it clear when he wants to do something "by self!"

This is OK if he's brushing his teeth or clicking the computer. It's not so good when he wants to drive the car.

►Kathleen Parker will be in Manchester on Thursday evening to speak at the Nackey S. Loeb School First Amendment Honors. Click here for details and tickets.

Thankfully, he is not much into social media yet. He is still more fascinated by hearing a real bird tweeting in the trees in the back yard than with using Twitter online. And I am much happier seeing his little face in person than I would be following him on Facebook.

Come to think of it, he and I share that bit of anti-socialism with the guest speaker at this Thursday night's Nackey S. Loeb First Amendment honors.

Kathleen Parker, whose column is a regular feature of these pages, is coming up for the seventh annual installment of an event that is the chief fundraiser for the school founded back in 1999 by Mrs. Loeb, late owner-publisher of this newspaper. (In a plug for a worthy cause, tickets are still available at www.Loebschool.org. Click here for more.)

The Nov. 12 event honors individuals or groups who have worked to protect or defend the First Amendment to the Constitution. Since it protects her own work, Ms. Parker is a big fan of the amendment. But her critical perspective on the limits of the social media craze are interesting, and I'm hoping she will discuss them Thursday evening.

She joins an impressive list of speakers the school has been lucky enough to attract (C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb, the late Tim Russert of NBC, George Will and Howard Fineman, among others). It's always a fun and informative event. I hope to see you there, if I don't misplace the kid again.

Write to Joe McQuaid at publisher@unionleader.com.