Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Love and Logic and Technology

All of our kids in the future are going to be "techies" as we define them today. Right now our two year old knows how to navigate our iPhones, use the computer and turn off the microwave timer. My husband, being a techie, puts any technology he can in our daughter's hands to see what she can figure out. I even surprise my husband sometimes, by teaching my daughter how to use iPhone applications during the day while he is at work. Once we have shown her something, we encourage her to figure it out for herself the next time. It's fun to see her little hands at work doing something that I started learning when I was starting college.

How is this Love and Logic? Well, from my perspective this is empowerment. I'm teaching my daughter to do things for herself and to learn skills that she will need in the future. I suppose she can make the decision on whether it's cool or not to use an iPhone. But really, she is already getting the basics down on how to use the iPhone multitouch display and how to move the mouse on the computer monitor.

My husband and I worked on an electronic medical record with nurses and doctors for four years prior to kids. Those from the baby boomer generation had a hard time even moving the mouse across the computer monitor. If my daughter is learning this at two, just think what she will be able to accomplish at 20.

1 comment:

Chris Peterson said...

This is a good example of empowerment. Technology is one way to do this. It could also be done in the garage with a set of tools and an old toaster, in the woods with hand sketched map and a set of trails, or in the boat with a hook, some line, a pole, and worms. It has been our philosophy to introduce our kids to stuff that even we don't have a passion for. Who are we to limit kids experiences because of our own insecurities and/or challenges.
FYI...www.pbskids.org is a great webpage for toddlers to navigate through. Grace is a pro at it and has become a special treat for her.