Unfortunately, though I tell children that because I am a mother, I am a mind reader, my mother ESP failed yesterday... Big Time! The day started pleasantly enough. Duncan had asked to go with his mates to the museum and then to the Strand. I had actually been planning a museum visit myself, so agreed - I volunteered to stay with them - "Uh, no Mum, it's all right" My mother antennae went up as he was a bit short on information. I mentally had decided to stay at the museum anyway... in a non-interfering sort of supervisory way as we also have another friend visiting! As it turned out, it was a moot point as when we got there, the museum policy is that children under 16 are supervised by their parents. As the father of "the mate" that Duncan and his visitor were meeting had to leave for a meeting at 11.00, I was obliged to stay. No problem. I quickly picked up Caitlin's boyfriend (he was also going to spend the day with us) made it back to the museum in time to see Duncan and his mates had been roped into a cannon firing demonstration. The mate's father said that he would be picking his son up at 2 on The Strand. I asked whether they had made arrangements, but he said his on would be texting him. Fine. I was happy with that sure in the knowledge that they would be with me.
By then the cannon demonstration was finished and two girls had also joined the trio of boys. I was not overly surprised. I had thought the museum was an unusual choice for the boys. They all made their way to the interactive science room, having a lot of fun and making a lot of noise. I strolled up to next level to the dinosaur display area and spotted a friend near the entrance. As I chatted with her, the quintet trooped past, a couple of extras now joining them, followed by Caitlin and her boyfriend. After half an hour or so of idle chatter I suddenly realised that the area was a lot quieter. Caitlin strolled back again and I asked if she had seen the boys. No she hadn't, not recently, so we went on the hunt. A museum on three levels with lots of interactive nooks and crannies takes some time to search! We were pretty sure that they weren't there. Maybe they had popped outside? I sent Cait and her beloved out to have a scout around... no sign. I began to feel a little worm of doubt in my stomach. Surely they hadn't decided to head to the Strand without telling me? They are good responsible kids... but Duncan is 13 and with a group of other kids - lead by the pack and peer pressure - the logical part of my brain was telling me, "They are on The Strand!"
I decided to leave Caitlin and BF at the museum while I cruised The Strand - surely they'd be easy to spot! No! As I crawled up and down the street, I couldn't spot them. I began to regret that I hadn't bought Duncan a mobile phone, though the logical part of my brain also told me that he'd probably have it turned off as his sister did at every time I've needed to contact her urgently. Oh why wasn't I the sort of protective parent that as all the mates' phone numbers programmed into my phone? I knew the mate had a phone, but didn't know how to contact his father at work. I decided to ring the friend's mother, calling her out of a meeting and sheepishly explaining that I had lost the boys and asking her for his number. She gave it to me with the caveat that he probably didn't have it with him. I tried the phone - sure enough, mother knows best - no answer. What could I do? Contacting the police seemed a bit extreme. After all I had a pretty good idea where they were, I just couldn't see them. I called in the younger eyed reinforcements of Caitlin and her BF. We cruised The Strand again via the two closest Maccas (just in case) and as we neared the Rockpool, we spotted them! Relief! Now I was going to have to growl at Duncan when all I wanted to do was cry and hug him. "Why didn't you tell me you were leaving?""Um didn't think about it, you knew we were going to The Strand" "The Strand is a big place - how did you think I would find you?" "Um I just thought you would" I could see him tempted to add "You did end up finding me didn't you?" but maybe a sense of self preservation saved him.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Old dogs and new tricks
Dad has a blog! Mum is on Facebook! There is a lot said about our "X-gen"s being digital natives and "powering down" when they go to school, but there is another group that are fast catching up and may even pass the bright young things in the digital world. The kids will always win with ownership of the latest gadgets - the spending power of tweens, teens and young adults far outweighs the average self funded retiree or pensioner (or even the married couple with kids), but it is in the use of the technologies that I see the difference. Kids have access to a brilliant array of online tools, they have the time to use them and are not scared of technology. There are some brilliant things happening, there is no doubt, but for a lot of the Xgens their time is spent giggling over YouTube, IMing such inane conversations as
Tween 1 : Wassup?
Tween 2 : NM
Tween 1: K updating statuses on Facebook OMG I just love this show or tweeting such riveting details as Just ate a bag of popcorn. Unfortunately it is status updates and tweets of this caliber that have left a lot of older users a little cold about social networking sites and the like, but just as many are finding it is a great way to catch up with old friends and young relatives. I often hear statements like, I just found a cousin I hgadn't spoken to in 30 years on Facebook! And it's not just 14 year olds rushing home because they have a virtual crop of strawberries to harvest on "My farm".
It's the use of other technologies that I find exciting and it seems to me that it is the older user who has the available time to really explore the joys of blogging, online tools for photo editing and storage, family trees, reading, podcasts, shopping and selling online, learning new skills, making new friends and networks. If they tweet, it is more likely to be a little more intersting to the casual reader than what hair colour they plan to try tomorrow. I'm proud of my two "older" digital tourists and judging by the stamps they keep adding to their digital passports, the digital natives better watch out, they may end up feeling like the aliens in their own land!
Tween 1 : Wassup?
Tween 2 : NM
Tween 1: K updating statuses on Facebook OMG I just love this show or tweeting such riveting details as Just ate a bag of popcorn. Unfortunately it is status updates and tweets of this caliber that have left a lot of older users a little cold about social networking sites and the like, but just as many are finding it is a great way to catch up with old friends and young relatives. I often hear statements like, I just found a cousin I hgadn't spoken to in 30 years on Facebook! And it's not just 14 year olds rushing home because they have a virtual crop of strawberries to harvest on "My farm".
It's the use of other technologies that I find exciting and it seems to me that it is the older user who has the available time to really explore the joys of blogging, online tools for photo editing and storage, family trees, reading, podcasts, shopping and selling online, learning new skills, making new friends and networks. If they tweet, it is more likely to be a little more intersting to the casual reader than what hair colour they plan to try tomorrow. I'm proud of my two "older" digital tourists and judging by the stamps they keep adding to their digital passports, the digital natives better watch out, they may end up feeling like the aliens in their own land!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Driving Miss Caity
What a difference a fortnight can make.
A little over a fortnight ago, Miss C achieved an important milestone. She managed to get a learner's permit. It was the second attempt. The first attempt proved that Mum was indeed correct, that simply being able to "ace" the online test samples is not adequate preparation for the learner's test. The $11.50 Keys to Driving in Qld book has been published with the intention that it would actually be read from cover to cover... more than once. Judging by the falure rates I observed in the hours spent at the Transport Department (for every 3 fronting up, an average of 2 failed), someone ought to form a group on Facebook, or Tweet to everyone around 16 saying "the mate who told you you could pass by just doing the online tests was misleading you!"
So just over a fortnight ago, the laminate still hot on her Learner's Permit, we celebrated by visiting an auto accessory shop, buying some "L" plates and heading out of town to a long straight wide country road for her first lesson. Along the way, we talkied about checking rearview mirrors, the order of hand brake before accelerator, indicating...we were ready. I found a good shoulder to pull over on, put on the "L" plates, changed places and then there was a terrifying minute or so as I suddenly realised just what I was doing. I was handing over my car to a girl who really preferred to be a passenger in dodgem cars, who ran into a bush in her friend's bush basher, who barely had enough stremgth in her hands to release the hand brake as I was now observing! Then she started and I don't know who was even more terrified. We crept along at 10, then 20 and 30. Cait gradually gaining confidence and I slowly relaxing. This was OK. She'd be managing a drive to Innisfail before the week was out. She steered nice and straight, she even asked could she go up to 80 (I refused - that was a tad too scary just yet!) Then we came to the first corner - my heart was inj my mouth again. Fortunately there was no other cars around as Cait slowed almost to a standstill and wildly oversteered. The next corner was a bit faster and a bit smoother. Then we came to an intersection. I said I'd never grab the wheel of my Learner driver... and I still insist that I was meerly adding a little extra guidance to her steering as the signpost came terribly close to the front of the car!
After almost 50 minutes, we were still on speaking terms, though both a little tired and certainly ready to call it a day.
For the rest of the week, we had a driving fiend on our hands. Any spare moment, her father and I were nagged to take her driving.
This past week, though, we haven't had the time, or when we have, she'd left her log book behind (with the all importnt "L" plates)so there has been no driving until this afternoon, when she did the drive down to Saunder's Beach. Maybe the week off has been a good thing. She had improved so much - driving smoothly and competently and even managing to turn into the side streets at a speed over 5kph! Or maybe she simply had already made those improvements and we just hadn't noticed it yet.
1 hour down... 99 to go!!!
A little over a fortnight ago, Miss C achieved an important milestone. She managed to get a learner's permit. It was the second attempt. The first attempt proved that Mum was indeed correct, that simply being able to "ace" the online test samples is not adequate preparation for the learner's test. The $11.50 Keys to Driving in Qld book has been published with the intention that it would actually be read from cover to cover... more than once. Judging by the falure rates I observed in the hours spent at the Transport Department (for every 3 fronting up, an average of 2 failed), someone ought to form a group on Facebook, or Tweet to everyone around 16 saying "the mate who told you you could pass by just doing the online tests was misleading you!"
So just over a fortnight ago, the laminate still hot on her Learner's Permit, we celebrated by visiting an auto accessory shop, buying some "L" plates and heading out of town to a long straight wide country road for her first lesson. Along the way, we talkied about checking rearview mirrors, the order of hand brake before accelerator, indicating...we were ready. I found a good shoulder to pull over on, put on the "L" plates, changed places and then there was a terrifying minute or so as I suddenly realised just what I was doing. I was handing over my car to a girl who really preferred to be a passenger in dodgem cars, who ran into a bush in her friend's bush basher, who barely had enough stremgth in her hands to release the hand brake as I was now observing! Then she started and I don't know who was even more terrified. We crept along at 10, then 20 and 30. Cait gradually gaining confidence and I slowly relaxing. This was OK. She'd be managing a drive to Innisfail before the week was out. She steered nice and straight, she even asked could she go up to 80 (I refused - that was a tad too scary just yet!) Then we came to the first corner - my heart was inj my mouth again. Fortunately there was no other cars around as Cait slowed almost to a standstill and wildly oversteered. The next corner was a bit faster and a bit smoother. Then we came to an intersection. I said I'd never grab the wheel of my Learner driver... and I still insist that I was meerly adding a little extra guidance to her steering as the signpost came terribly close to the front of the car!
After almost 50 minutes, we were still on speaking terms, though both a little tired and certainly ready to call it a day.
For the rest of the week, we had a driving fiend on our hands. Any spare moment, her father and I were nagged to take her driving.
This past week, though, we haven't had the time, or when we have, she'd left her log book behind (with the all importnt "L" plates)so there has been no driving until this afternoon, when she did the drive down to Saunder's Beach. Maybe the week off has been a good thing. She had improved so much - driving smoothly and competently and even managing to turn into the side streets at a speed over 5kph! Or maybe she simply had already made those improvements and we just hadn't noticed it yet.
1 hour down... 99 to go!!!
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