T, we are simpatico on most topics and I agree that your daughter is exceptional and your parenting is a fine example, but don’t dismiss technology so quickly, not for little ones today. Their world will be different. Also, math is different, it’s concrete, it has concepts that are less open to emotion, interpretation and discussion than other topics. It doesn’t require the same level of interaction. So I say do all of those things you mentioned, but allow technology to help with math and computers.
An example would be cell phones. My parents and i got cell phones on the same day about 15 years ago and have had them ever since. My kids have only had them for a short time. I can do most anything I need on my phone, I can get the weather, traffic while I’m driving, find a number for a take out place and call them one the way and do a hundred other things, I do not own a yellow or white pages. My address book, e-mail and schedule, all on the phone. My parents are bright and educated, but they got that technology too late in life, even though they have had more time than my kids to learn it, they can’t. They can both make calls on the phone and that’s about it. Maybe a text once a month, one of them still hasn’t quite gotten the hang of voice mail, so I dont bother leaving one. They are only in their mid sixties, it’s not going to get better, that’s their limit. They can work the internet, when one of them is driving they call the other one and have them check the traffic. I bought them both gps with traffic for a gift but neither can work it and they still call someone at a computer if they get stuck in traffic. I love them and have stopped trying to fix them, because they wont be around in fifty years, so they it’s ok if the world passes them by, but a four year old will be around in fifty years and will need some tech savvy.
My kids on the other hand, within an hour of getting their hands of their first iphones, can do anything and everything on their phones. This is their world and preparing them for their world and not mine is part of my job. Flu’s little girl is 12 years younger than mine, her world will be even more different.
It’s also impossible to not have a computer these days for a kid. My kids just went back to school and only got two textbooks each, their other classes went to online texts. It’s cheaper, lighter, easier to update, greener and you can’t lose it. This will only become more prevalent and when flu’s daughter is in high school, they wont even make textbooks anymore, I give textbooks five years, all other books ten. Computer and electronic readers like the ipad and kindle will have replaced them.
Another example is that when i was a young man, my grandfather died and i taught my grandma how to drive, she was in her 60’s and she never got the hang of it. She could get to the store and church, but that was about it. Her parents didn’t think it was neccesary to teach a girl how to drive, men did that. But the world changed and she got left behind. Appreciate the past but prepare for the future. TV is evil, but computers are a valuable tool and they aren’t going away.
