By The Wiz
Heather is getting annoyed with me that i haven’t posted in such a long time. I started to think about why, and came up with this: My youngest son is the reason. He’s not yet 3, and yet, he knows exactly how to get to nickjr.com, playousedisney.com, pbskids.org, and to any of the games that we have installed. He is great at double clicking and dragging, printing, and yelling “I DO IT! MY TURN PLAY COMPUTER!” So, I have to battle for computer time with my Toddler-Man. Great.
If allowed, he would spend all day every day in front of the computer, supposedly “learning as he plays.” I’m not sure he’s “learning” anything except how to yell and shove whenever I try to get on-line to balance my checkbook or read the paper, or heaven forbid, put up a blog post. That last one actually takes a few minutes.
So now I have to set limits and timers as to how long he can play on the computer. i have to bargain with him to get Mommy computer time. It’s weird. I don’t remember my girls being obsesed with the computer this much, although they’ve certainly always liked it. Maybe it’s because they’re bored with all the games we have, which are certainly geared toward preschoolers. Or maybe it’s because I did a better job at parenting them, so they enjoy their toys and outside play. Or maybe it’s because my girls have each other to play with and Toddler-Man only gets yelled at whenever he disrupts their games purposely by throwing rocks at their Barbies.
He’s trying to click on ‘Publish’ right now, and is continually turning the monitor on and off, so I believe I will end this post now. Maybe I should get him his own little computer? Maybe I should ban him from the computer altogether? Maybe it’s just a phase. Who knows. But he’s definitely contributing to my bloggerslackeriness.




Wireless laptops are beautiful things…
Comment #1 by jbnJune 17th, 2006 at 9:17 pmSo are multiple computers…
:)
Comment #2 by KerynJune 17th, 2006 at 10:37 pmI think I’m going to ask for a laptop for my birthday.
Then when we go on trips I can blog and he won’t get upset by my constant screaming “oh, crap, we’re gonna die!”
Comment #3 by annegbJune 18th, 2006 at 11:01 amI remember vividly when my youngest was about 4 and he was playing on the computer. He suddenly yelled, “It’s frozen! And I can’t control-alt-delete out of it!”
Comment #4 by Susan MJune 18th, 2006 at 2:45 pmMy brother-in-law learned to read write and spell by playing text adventure games when he was 4. My mother in law also made a rule for her kids that they had to write in their journals or write a letter to their grandparents before they could play on the computer that day. Because of that there are some great journals written by my husband when he was ten or so.
Comment #5 by StarfoxyJune 19th, 2006 at 2:54 pmI’m not sure it would work with a three year old though.
Ah, this is just a man-child thing.
He is gearing up for the BIG ONE. You know, the one where he tries to over throw his dad for ownership of the remote control. =)
Comment #6 by Tammy and ParkerJune 20th, 2006 at 1:27 pmMaybe you should find some way of distracting him like buying a few books and reading to him.
Comment #7 by Linda HayesNovember 28th, 2008 at 4:18 pm