Shopping: Kids and Technology

This is my response for the Blog Carnival organized on Mom Gadget, see the compilation here:  http://video-game-tips.blogspot.com

 I recently purchased a Leapster Lmax for Boy2001. He LOVES this thing and it has been a life saver on car trips.  He used to whine so much for a 20 minute ride, now he happily graps his leapster and hops in.  I often wonder how the whole tech thing is affecting him.

When we bought our minivan 6 months ago, the salesman was pretty insistent that we NEEDED a dvd player for the kids.  I pushed back and insisted that I was totally against the idea, I have enough trouble pulling them away from the t.v. at home, now when I want to go into the store I’m going to have more trouble?!? nope not me, it would be nice for very long trips, but we’ve only made one long trip in the last 4 years, so I really don’t think it is worth it for us personally.

The Leapster LMax seemed to be a perfect compromise, but now even that is infringing on family life.  Usually we only go to two restaurants… Bugaboo Creek for steak every 2 months or so, and the Chinese Buffet on weekend nights because they have a GREAT selection of seafood and meats for only $12.  Anyway, last weekend we were to early for the dinner and went to Ruby Tuesdays for lunch.  It was a mistake, paying for hamburgers and waiting on not-so-great service.  Anyway, boy2001 asked if he could bring his leapster in and I said, “yes, but we have to turn off the volume”.  He relunctantly agreed and we entered the restaurant.  It was great, I got to talk to daddy and we had an ok lunch.  There were a lot of young families with kids in high chairs, etc… so we didn’t feel uncomfortable about that BUT there was this one older couple with no kids, looking around and I caught them looking at my son twice and whispering about him, what they said, I do not know but I’m sure it was how horrible we were to let him play with his game through lunch.  I agree, they were/are right, it was not correct for me to let him play with it, but he wasn’t bothering anyone, there was no volume to disturb anyone and we got a little bit of a break.  In retrospect, it’s not something I will continue because I don’t want my son not to be able to carry on conversation while eating, this is one of those skills I think many people are lacking in and want to make sure this will not be a problem for him.  So, I am trying to cut down on the technology for him.

Want to see what other people are saying about their kids and technology?  Check out Char’s blog http://www.casualkeystrokes.com  and for other answers to this blog carnival go to http://video-game-tips.blogspot.com.

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