Monday, January 2, 2012

Plugged in...

I tried in vain to resist immersing the two younger kids in unnecessary electronics and technology.  I just kept thinking about traveling with the two older kids and how they would play word games, or look out the window, or actually have conversations with us or each other.  I think I finally gave up and got our first portable DVD player when Boyo was about five, and we were on the verge of refusing to go anywhere more than about 10 miles from home – about as much car trip as he could handle without pushing Girlie to meltdown point, and Dearest and I to the limits of our tolerance.  Occasionally he’d work himself up to being carsick.  Sometimes he even gets too agitated out of a sense of competition when we play ‘I Spy’ for random things we might see along the way!

Of course we don’t know exactly what’s going on in his head, but traveling makes him anxious anyway, and I think seeing all the visual input outside our van is overwhelming.  It’s nice when we can point out something – he loves spotting unusual birds or deer, for instance – but then he can go right back to watching the movie or playing his game and not think about the trip.  Girlie doesn’t have any real difficulties with travel, for the most part, and she’s just as happy to read a book if we’re traveling in daylight.  In fact, it’s only been recently they’ve stopped asking me to read aloud; I read “Kildee House” (Rutherford G. Montgomery, 1949) on the way home from Sacramento in 2009 – about 11 hours of reading with a couple short breaks – and didn’t want to speak for several days afterward.  But what great memories we all have of that trip!

From what I understand, it's common for kids with similar challenges to use games, movies, or mp3 players to help stay calm.  I admit it was a hard thing to come to terms with, maybe especially because I’m an older parent and we didn’t need any of these newfangled things back in my day!  :-) I think when we use the tools carefully, they have their place and serve a great purpose.  During our trips we ‘check in’ with the kids; ask them to pause, have a bit of conversation, point out a landmark or two, answer their questions about where we are and how much longer the trip will last, and then let them get back to being plugged in.  As for me, if I’m not knitting, I’ll just read a book… lemme just make sure it’s fully charged...




My nook color - which I love - in a knitted and felted cover I made, using the framework of a hardback book with about half the pages removed.  

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