Yes, this again is a post about how things have changed since we were kids - and things that we enjoyed that Peanut will either never enjoy or would not see why we enjoyed it.
At 2 years and 9 months Peanut already knows how to use a computer, how to move the mouse and click to get files open, he knows what an Xbox (PS2, Xbox360) controller is for, he knows how to open my laptop and how to get the screen to wake up... but this is not about the things that Peanut can do, i believe i have already gone through a few of the wonders of technology that peanut seems to have so easily picked up on.
There are things that we used to do, things that we used to enjoy that Peanut never will. And the thing that I remember enjoying, that Peanut will never know the pleasure of is playing under the hose - running under the sprinkler - putting on bathers to wash the car and not getting much water on the car...
In this day and age i find it hard to comprehend that we used to so wasteful with water! I can never imagine putting Peanut in the backyard under the sprinkler! And we seemed have already impressed the water conservation onto our son.
I should also give the piece of information that Peanut is not at all keen on the process of being washed. If i try to give him a shower he screams in terror (yes, there is true fear there where having a shower is concerned). His main form of ablutions is in the "toddler tub", a plastic tub that we have sitting in the bath tub and we use a shower hose that is attached to the tap to wash him. He is not keen on the shower hose, but we find it quick and easy to use and he puts up with it (and hopefully if he learns to cope with the shower hose we can finally get him in to the shower...). And the good thing about the toddler tub is that the water we use can be easily taken outside and put on some of the plants - the few plants that we do water that is.
So tonight when it was time for Peanuts to have a bath, he told that he didn't want to have a bath and that it was a "waste of water". He said "maybe bath tomorrow, not tonight, bath is wasting water". I should say that despite the protest he had a bath anyway - and had fun playing with his bath toys.
I am amazed that the concept of having to save water has hit home with him though, even if he is using it to try and get out of staying clean. So maybe Peanut will not miss the childhood pleasure of running under the sprinkler. I mean he will not be able to experience to it, but our way of thinking has done such a shift that he would not even think of it as option of entertainment. And in this day and age - that can only be a good thing.
(: Reggie
Tuesday 10 November 2009
Thursday 24 September 2009
Not like I remember when I was young
Peanut loves watching TV (well, don't we all) and on the week days that i do not go work - and he does not go to daycare - we watch ABC Kids together. We eat toast, drink tea / milk and watch some of Peanut's favourite shows. There many shows on that i remember watching throughout my childhood - but they are not the same as they were then. And i blame technology for this, the ease in which a show can be computer animated has done away with a lot of the charm kids TV used to have for me. One show i particularly remember enjoying was "The Magic Roundabout". It featured a variety of creatures and was filmed in stop animation. The show is still on TV, and the basic characters are the same, but it is now a 3D computer animated show. All the characters move freely and their faces are very expressive - Unlike the jerky movements and faces frozen with a single expression that i was used to from my childhood.
But when i think what is out there for kids these days, i can't help but do the head shake and say things "It's not like it used to be... I did not have all the toys they have these days! All i had to play with was a brick with a piece of string tied around it!!!"
Ok, maybe not that far, but when i think about children's toys now - the idea of toy made out of wood is almost a novelty now! and when a range of wooden toys can be found they tend to have a rather exclusive price tag attached... I remember having quite a few wooden toys when i was little. One of my favourites was a toy that i lovingly called "tink-a-tonk", it was a wooden pull-along toy that had hammers that would strike one of three wooden bars as it dragged along. I wish i still had it, so that Peanut and Bean could see it and get as much fun out of it as i did... But if tink-a-tonk was still around, i don't Peanut and Bean would find it as entertaining as i did.
I was fascinated by this toy that would play a very basic, a very simple piece of music - if you can call three notes being played over and over again music - but I'm sure that the fascination would be felt by today's youth.
Peanut has toys that do almost everything! At a press of a button they sing songs, light up and some will almost dance a little gig - so why would he enjoy a simple tink-a-tonk?
The same goes for the TV shows that are on for kids. They are so full of bright colours, catchie songs and special effects that the shows i enjoyed when i was little must seem quite dull in comparison. For example Thomas the Tank engine now has a face the moves when he is talking and the fat controller is no longer a motionless doll. Peanut's favourite show Lazytown (i have seen every episode at least ten times each) maybe a live action show but a large amount of it shot in green screen.
Now thinking about it, with all the focus on products and shows for children, will it help teach Peanut's generation things that we did not have access to from a very early age? is there a chance that the adults of tomorrow could be far superior in intelligence because of the greater amount of exposure to technology and "educational" shows and product that are now available?
Albert Einstein did not have the Tellie Tubbies when he was baby, and he seemed to have turned out not too bad!!!
You know, i don't know if this was the point i was trying to make when i started this post... But TV has killed so many of my brain cells that i don't think i was really ever going along with a single train of thought! One thing i do know is - I like cake.
(: Reggie
But when i think what is out there for kids these days, i can't help but do the head shake and say things "It's not like it used to be... I did not have all the toys they have these days! All i had to play with was a brick with a piece of string tied around it!!!"
Ok, maybe not that far, but when i think about children's toys now - the idea of toy made out of wood is almost a novelty now! and when a range of wooden toys can be found they tend to have a rather exclusive price tag attached... I remember having quite a few wooden toys when i was little. One of my favourites was a toy that i lovingly called "tink-a-tonk", it was a wooden pull-along toy that had hammers that would strike one of three wooden bars as it dragged along. I wish i still had it, so that Peanut and Bean could see it and get as much fun out of it as i did... But if tink-a-tonk was still around, i don't Peanut and Bean would find it as entertaining as i did.
I was fascinated by this toy that would play a very basic, a very simple piece of music - if you can call three notes being played over and over again music - but I'm sure that the fascination would be felt by today's youth.
Peanut has toys that do almost everything! At a press of a button they sing songs, light up and some will almost dance a little gig - so why would he enjoy a simple tink-a-tonk?
The same goes for the TV shows that are on for kids. They are so full of bright colours, catchie songs and special effects that the shows i enjoyed when i was little must seem quite dull in comparison. For example Thomas the Tank engine now has a face the moves when he is talking and the fat controller is no longer a motionless doll. Peanut's favourite show Lazytown (i have seen every episode at least ten times each) maybe a live action show but a large amount of it shot in green screen.
Now thinking about it, with all the focus on products and shows for children, will it help teach Peanut's generation things that we did not have access to from a very early age? is there a chance that the adults of tomorrow could be far superior in intelligence because of the greater amount of exposure to technology and "educational" shows and product that are now available?
Albert Einstein did not have the Tellie Tubbies when he was baby, and he seemed to have turned out not too bad!!!
You know, i don't know if this was the point i was trying to make when i started this post... But TV has killed so many of my brain cells that i don't think i was really ever going along with a single train of thought! One thing i do know is - I like cake.
(: Reggie
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