Surviving the open plan
When there is no sanctuary of closed doors and walls, office etiquette becomes vital...
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"I love Captain Underpants books, don't you?" asked Joe of his friend Adam.
"I do," said Adam. (There's a luck, thought I.)
"And www.pilkey.com is full of cool games and downloads and songs and stuff," said Joe, his Net-knowledgable nonchalance slightly undermined by the careful relish with which he pronounced each w and dot. "You should check it out."
"Cool," said Adam. (Panic, I thought. These kids are barely SEVEN years old.)
As soon as Adam left, I engineered one of those Casual Inquisition kitchen moments with Joe – you know the kind, when you start pouring juice or spreading peanut butter and just happen to bring up a topic of violently burning parental interest.
"So, how did you find out about pilkey.com?" I asked, übercoolly I thought.
"Well... duh!" Joe replied, brandishing a battered copy of Captain Underpants and The Attack of The Talking Toilets. "It is written on the back of the cover, see?"
Ah. So not so übercool then. And that was when it dawned on me.
As a child of the '70s, it would never automatically occur to me to take an email address from the back cover of a book. I know that sounds ridiculous, what with working online and all, but for me, there is still an unconscious distinction between online and print. Realising that my son's generation is growing up surfing happily, and unconsciously, from one medium to another made me realise how very different his world is to mine.
It seriously got me thinking... are we as parents Netsavvy enough to guide our kids through the information explosion that is their heritage? There are so many pitfalls, and so many doomsayers, but the truth is the Net is going to be around a hell of a lot longer than we are, and it is kinda pointless to bury your head in a hardcover.
The instant ADD thing, in particular, worries me. I don't know about you, but my concentration span has gone for a ball of chalk since I started spending so much of my working life on the computer – I am continually doing five or six things at once, and I am not sure I am ever doing anything terribly well. (In fact, I just got entirely sidetracked by an email alert. Just three paragraphs up, I took a 45-minute detour to sign up for and then download 37 home-shot yoga lessons via podcast. Admittedly, I have always been a little stretched on the attention span front, but still.)
If that's how I am affected by the constant access to all the knowledge in the world, how must a child – deep in the 'why and how' phase – feel? How does one manage this potential brainfrying?
I don't know. We limit computer time in our house, but we also have family computer time, when we pick a topic and then search for it together... anything from Joe's latest school project to Asterix. (Let me just strip the smug parent from that comment... 'family computer time' usually begins when Joe catches me mid-pointless Web search. It is share or be shamed, really.)
We also big into books... and although Joe has just informed me that he prefers computer games to reading, we make sure he reads more than he plays computer games. Oh, and we are a Gameboy-free zone, but I suppose that's a whole different column.
These were the thoughts that were going through my mind as I prepared Joe's lunch that day. Before he threw me the inevitable kiddy clanger.
'Also, of course, I Googled Captain Underpants," he said over his shoulder, as he grabbed his peanut butter sandwich and apple juice, and hared off to his tree house.
I had a little frozen moment, peanut butter knife in hand, as my brain cogs spun out of control on that one.
"You Googled the phrase 'Captain UNDERPANTS?', I shrieked out of the kitchen window in horror.
Gaah!
Are you worried about being less netsavvy then your child? Or are you freaking out at the thought of what kids can Google? Share your thoughts with us below.
This article originally appeared in Cape Town's Child magazine
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| Yup, very scary. Makes proper parenting even more important. If you teach them to live properly, they will use the net properly. Now, if it was only as easily done as said. | ||
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| KoosS on 08 Aug at 12:14 |
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| My brother actually sent me the link to your article (via facebook!), because just the other day my facebook status was all about me learning about the mysteries of Captain Underpants. ;-) That's after my 5 year-old and I started frequenting the CU game site after we discovered the book. And I was the one who Googled for it. ;-) So I can really relate. But our son is not yet at the stage where he's freely using the pc. Hubby and I are fortunate - we're both in IT and are extremely computer savvy - and we have firm control over the technology in the house. PC and TV time is strictly controlled, and there's also no PS or Xbox or anything in the house. We're confident that we are slowly exposing them to the wonders of the 'net, and teaching them how to use it responsibly. For non-IT parents - it's crucial to educate yourself about computers and the internet properly, otherwise you will not be able to guide your children. You don't have to be a programmer or expert - just do at least a basic course in safe and secure use of the internet - for yourself, as much as for your kids. You'll be glad you did. | ||
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| Maritza on 08 Aug at 19:25 |
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| Collecting my son from a sleepover he happily showed me a new game that a friend had downloaded from the internet onto his phone and then also onto my sons phone. A poker game in which you can play for fun or money!! what do you mean, money I asked. Well airtime actually was the reply. How is it possible that children can access this kind of game. I thought gambling was illegal for under 18's. Who can you complain too? This game was shown to him by a grade 7 child who was actively gambling for airtime. My other discovery was made when we went into the vodacom 4 you site and checked our son's cellphone usage. Unfortunately you can only see the last ten transactios without paying a R10/page fee but we picked up a transfer of money to another cellphone number. My son knew nothing about this and when the suspect was confronted the money was returned. I didn't know this was possible and it was only because both my children were out of airtime at the same time that we had gone to check. So keep tabs on what is happening on the phones and internet and learn as much about both as you can. | ||
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| Carol on 13 Aug at 10:13 |
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| I just want to say to all that have children: please treat them like they are made of crystal. I cannot have babies and it is a hard pill to swallow. We tried in-vitro and gift with no success. I know that we are not meant to have a child. Therefore please tell your children all the time how special they are and how special you as parents were. God chose you to have them. Bless you | ||
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| Emma on 23 Oct at 12:08 |
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