The kid is becoming a bit of a
Luddite... Not in a go out, grab a hoody and blow some stuff up kind of way...
He just isn't always a fan of technology.
We kind of swore of television
for Miloh before he was born... Then slipped a bit when he was super-crazy new
and we were super-crazy tired... We let him watch Planet Earth... I know,
scandalous.
Then we went cold turkey on
television for a long while until he was a toddler and mornings were just a
little bit better with a cat and a also a hat. Our doctor had said a little bit before bed was ok
too... As long as he had under a half hour a day... And most days he didn't hit
that...
Although he learned good stuff
from TV... Seriously he learned a lot of words from Sesame St... We did notice
he got hooked fast...
What I'm trying to say here is
the kid was watching television and while it was either nature shows or PBS
stuff we always felt a bit guilty. So we shut it off again with the exception
of a little Busytown Mysteries or fish nature shows (his fave) when he’s
asleep.
That's all his love of
technology... But he did have moments of total hatred of it... And we didn't
see it at first.
He started to hate our phones but
it took some time to notice. Any time they were out he'd become really naughty,
biting, hitting us and such. The same with our laptop except when we were
watching Danny MacAskill do his thing, which we still watch… I
won’t count the bike videos as screen time because that’s more training for
when he starts to ride. He’s learning a ton by watching and so this screen time
is invaluable.
It's tough to not be connected
these days... It only took a few years but being connected all the time became
the norm for everyone... But now we're trying to give it up when he's around...
Well we've pretty much given it up when he's around.
I started unplugging because I
did something dangerous... Istarted reading. I won’t regurgitate that article and I suggest reading it
but the gist is that parents being plugged in is not so good for the kids.
And it makes me think about how
to raise MF…
I was never thinking we’d be too
quick on getting him his own iPod, iPad or anything like that... And not to
offend, because I never do that, but I just don’t get why people hand them to
their super young kids… First they’re expensive and second kids still like
crayons and such.
I was intrigued by the Nook
color's (and I suppose now the Nook Tablet's) interactive books for kids...
Thought about buying one for an upcoming long ass plane ride but then balked…
I balked (if I’m using that
baseball term correctly) because I read some more; AParent’s Struggle With a Child’s iPad Addiction, Aregadgets bad for kids? and the more general NYT collection about your
brain on computers
All that stuff makes me want to
keep MF analog for as long as we can.
I want to keep him away from
tablets and phones and laptops until he really needs them for school. Some
would say I’m setting him behind others… Sure keeping him away from that could
hurt his chances of being a 12year old app mogul. But I’ll take those chances.
Before he was born I thought
about how I'd get him drawing on the computer early because I have all the best
software and why not get him good early so he can kick ass?
But, I think of my nephew and
technology. Computers and cameras were around when he was young but he didn't
really start using them until he was in his young teens... A handful of years
later he's a freaking master and in an amazing film school...
Being late to the tech table
didn't hurt him at all.
In reality it probably helped
him.
Knowing how to do things the
analog way, like actually draw with pencil and paper, separates the great
people from the rest. I’m sure there are some amazing artists who go straight to
a computer and can’t draw but some of the best stuff I’ve seen starts from a
sketch.
That being said I’m trying to go
more analog.
While totally hypocritical I got
a Nook Simple Touch… The black and white kind. Partly because I thought I’d be
tempted to hand a tablet to the kid… But also because while digital it has a
similar affect on your brain as a regular book because of a reflective screen,
as compared to a tablet with a backlit display. More about backlit displays and
sleep here.
(Side note I actually read
another article, that I can’t find, about how some dude dumped his iPad as an eReader
because when reading he’d spend more time playing angry birds than read… That
would be me.)
I actually notice the lack of
screen difference in my life… I’m used to being in front of a TV or computer
before bed and I have trouble sleeping… Now that I turned off the backlit
screen and read the Nook I actually sleep better. And for those who think I
fall asleep because I’m reading that’s what I’d do at night from on my mac.
So not really sure what the moral
is here… I’m taking a cue from the kid and unplugging quite a bit.
As a kind of P.S. I read anotherarticle about why a guy dumped his iPhone. I don’t have an iPhone, I have
an android phone, but really it’s the same idea. Now I’m thinking that when my next
upgrade time comes around I’ll actually downgrade.
Moral of the story: I read a lot
Ladies and gentlemen... An example of pencil and paper before a computer.
The print of this is over Miloh's bed... He calls it big elephant but it's a mammoth. Maybe if we had him watch Ice Age he'd know the difference.
started as a pre-daddy blog and morphed into a daddy blog
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Took awhile... Here's an infographic of MF's first year
I finished this about a year ago just for my personal use but thought I'd share it. It's a visualization of MF's first year in n...

I don't like giving my phone to my boy because it's so easy to do the wrong thing when I'm not looking, and this thing is an expensive toy, but I do appreciate the fact that books become interactive (his favorite app now is a dictionary + games from DK)(he's almost 4, by the way). I think it's like a lot of things: when used in moderation and while supervised, it's not that bad (at least for me). I don't think leaving kids in front of the TV just to great a break is good (although I'm not going to judge people who do that--kids aren't always easy), but thank god there are endless opportunities for us to destroy our kids, we're bound to stumble onto one. (Years from now, we'll say we were too over-protective / We weren't around to guide them / We didn't just let them be / We weren't structured enough / We were too strict / We were too easy on them...)
ReplyDeletegreat ==> get
ReplyDelete@bloggerFather everything you say is true. And no matter how you raise your kids you're screwed or you win.
ReplyDeleteI watched a lot of TV growing up. I know every iconic TV spot from the 80's. Now I'm in marketing. I don't think it's a coincidence.
We watched a lot of movies growing up & I think I learned from them - lessons that are perhaps easier to teach with visual examples & stories. Isaiah has recently become obsessed with the iPhone & iPad. It was an accident; we didn't teach him. He's not allowed to play on the iPhone anymore because he goes crazy if we take it away & well we use our phones so we're always taking it away. We still let him play on the iPad though in moderation at specific times & time periods & sometimes when I leave it out on accident & goes, "a pad, a pad!!!" I like the interactive books & educational games (Duck Duck Moose is my favorite) so I don't mind him playing on it. And sometimes it's pretty awesome on a long drive or when I need to take an important call. Unfortunately banning technology from the house is impossible for us because my 6 year old stepson is already ADDICTED to anything technology - iPad, iPhone, XBOX, Wii, Nintendo DS - I got in too late on that one.
ReplyDeleteYeah, south park was my boys fav show up till he was two. Now it's iPads and action movies. Good times.
ReplyDelete