KTab - the word

In the good old days in Australia [when snow was snow], and in fact still to be found in many counties, there was an entity called The Family. In Australia in those times The Family lived in The Family Home and traditionally the biggest room in that home was the kitchen, complete with The Kitchen Table. In those old days in Australia [and STILL in civilized counties around the world] everything happened at the kitchen table. It was where the family ate their meals, drank their coffee/tea and just "sat around" and talked of life - and mum could even be part of it [albeit on her feet] as she performed her kitchen duties. And it was where the family passed around their wallets of photos, with screams of delight from all assembled.

The term KTAB refers to that very kitchen table because it is a cyberspace Kitchen Table. The bad news is that well before the new millennium the government in Australia threw the traditional family overboard, replacing the traditional marital concept with tax payer funded "relationships counselling centres" and for those kids and fathers separated by the family court, with "contact centres" [at $50 per hour]. The good news is a KTAB caters for all situations. It seems even intact families living in "modern residences" have had the kitchen replaced by an alcove with a microwave and a jug, so there is scant hope of a kitchen table. Perhaps even these intact families can use a KTAB to communicate bedroom to bedroom from computer to computer.

However that artificial application is not really in the true spirit of the KTAB, which is to allow family members who are geographically separated to emulate the good old kitchen table days [whether or not the member ever sat at a real kitchen table]. And the term geographical separation can refer to a hemisphere or merely 2 adjoining suburbs, eg Kath and Kim having a more "meaningful" relationship than by the phone. Obviously it is ideal for fathers and kids separated by the family courts and one would hope that even someone as non caring as a family court judge would not make an order that a kid and dad are "prohibited from using their KTAB". Finally there is no reason why the KTAB might not be used by overseas [from Australia] families.