Every 21st Centurty kid needs the basics: cell phone, laptop, skype address, Facebook page, personal website and email account. Alex is 100% covered with all forms of technology. You are guaranteed to reach him 24 hours a day, 7 days a week...just don't call at nap time when all communications are temporarily suspended by mom.
Perhaps I should have worried at 6 months, when Alex knew how to work the remote control from his walker. By one year, he would run at lightning speed to answer any ringing phone. And, at still less than 2 years, he likes to check his blog, skype with his new friends Noam & Lisa, talk endlessly on the phone with Grandma, and check out his favorite video. For better and for worse, 21st century moms are blazing new trails and our children are right behind us in ways never known before. Alex isn't just packing his backpack with me, he's also checking the blackberry.
I'm sure the experts will soon report this is all detrimental. After all, research already tells us that Baby Einsteins will harm our children. So, what's a mom to do? Every major toy imported from China this year was loaded with lead tainted paint, which, by the way, that is every toy. Some brands of baby formula and all brands of infant cold medicine were recalled from the shelves by the FDA. Predators are stalking our children on the internet. No child is to be left behind, but US schools are slipping further behind worldwide comparisons year-after-year. It's enough to wreck havoc on any parent's heart.
Alex and I like to take it one day at a time with a trip to the park, a dunk in the pool, a walk around the neighborhood, some jumping at the Gymboree, or just a few dozen laps around the kitchen island. We turn off the phones, the TV, the computer, the blackberry and we have some fun and run. We eat healthy snacks. We try to read, not just throw, our books. We brush our teeth. We play, and play, and play. We do the best we can. Oh, and, then...we check our email too.
