Childcare in the age of technology.

I read this article... well, I'm tired, so I read the first page of this article... and it started me thinking.

Cosette is a child of the digital age.  She is an iPod expert; her current favorite app is Dress Your Princess, although she is also happy to play Memory or Toddler Trivia. I've got a good number of children's albums- most of which I've remembered to "Skip when Shuffling".  It is funny when "I've got a Pig On My Head" starts playing in the middle of a random shuffle. She does enjoy a few High School Musical music videos, and loves to watch Adam Lambert perform "Feelin Good".  (Talk about songs that stick in your head!). If you went to my Top Played list, it would be mostly kids music.

When we watch TV- and I fully admit that my kids watch TV- they want shows on demand, and a lot of times, they get them.  Now we even get Netflix streaming, so we can decide to have a movie night, browse through the Watch Instantly selections, and pick a movie, all in a matter of minutes and without getting up from the couch. If we are watching TV, Cosette gets cranky when I won't fast forward through the commercials.  "What do you mean you can't?" she whines. And yet, it is amazing to me how she can recite back to me so many of those commercials verbatim.  It makes me laugh.  It makes me cringe.  And it makes me feel like a horrible, irresponsible parent. Even when you think you are being a little bit responsible by picking educational programs, you find out later that- meh, not so much.  (Of course I realize that there is no TV that is as good as- well- not watching TV.)

Yesterday I was getting dinner ready, and Cosette wanted to play outside while she waited.  She came crying to me "Mommy!  Juliette won't come!"
I walked her back towards the door and said "Well, go play by yourself."
"But Mommy, I don't want to play myself!" she cried.
"What do you want me to say, Cosette." And then I almost started to say I can't make Juliette play outside But as the words formed in my mouth, I thought about what I was saying.  And then I thought,  Wait a minute, Yes I can.  I can most certainly make her play outside.  And that is what I did.  After a few minutes of sitting sullenly on the stoop, she forgot to be mad and began to have fun.   

It is hard, sometimes, when all you want to do is relax and be irresponsible, and instead you have to get up and be a parent. Man, I don't want to do homework with Juliette.  And I need to spend more time reading with her, but sometimes I'd rather just read my own book.  Even now, as I'm writing this, Juliette came up to me with a pile of flashcards and asked me to do them with her, and I felt a twinge of annoyance "But I'm blogging right now."  And then I hit "Save Now" and stopped blogging for a few minutes and did some flashcards with her.  (Which, incidentally, are supposed to be for 4-7  year olds but seem like they are for 4-7 year old kid geniuses.) 

In an age of instant gratification, it is hard for them to learn to wait.  And they are used to getting what they want now.  But just like sometimes the best part of a present is the empty box it came in, the best technology is the simplest kind:  the wheel... on the bike.  The tire... swing.  And so what if they complain a little?  Eventually they give in and have fun, and in the meantime... well, the iPod is mine after all.  I can put in the earbuds and listen to my own music.