This is an old piece of fiction that I’m quite proud of, and so am sharing with the world at large.
It’s fiction, definitely, but every single one of my colleagues or classmates can attest to the fact that we have all had at least one experience similar to this. It’s what keeps us going. Continue reading
Where to start?
Baby monitors are convenient, especially if they send notifications straight to your phone. A web blog or your Facebook account is probably the perfect place to share all of those precious, precious baby photos, and the unidentifiable scribbles (read: artwork) your child gave you when he was three. Added advantage, your enraged teenager fifteen years later won’t even be able to burn the embarrassing evidence!
But no matter what technology can do for your children, there are some things that even it can’t (GASP) do. Such as:
1. The laptop is a portable computer. You can check your email with it, or access your Facebook account, or do odd things with chunks of code that will forever mystify us behavioural and health science folks.
It cannot parent your child. It can’t play with him/her, or teach him/her English (Or Hindi. Or Mandarin.). It cannot have a conversation with your child. It cannot praise your child for the things he/she does well, or give feedback on the things that aren’t done so well. It can’t smile back at your child, or laugh, or clap. It can’t read a beloved book with your child and answer all the odd questions about it that your toddler is liable to come up with.
2. A smartphone is a mobile phone that can do things besides make calls.
It cannot befriend your child. It can’t engage your child in a game that teaches him/her how to make friends with people, or share toys, or solve conflicts. It can’t strengthen small arms and legs, or teach a child that a skinned knee is just a skinned knee which will heal in time.
Common sense, of course, when we think about it. The challenge is letting ourselves think about it, rather than pacifying our guilty consciences with ridiculous ideas like “The game on the mobile phone keeps him quiet.”
Good intentions? On the surface, it may seem so. But really, how would a parent feel if their child was silent without any external aid, and all the time? It’s what they were aiming for with the game in the first place, right?
‘No,’ one may say. ‘We don’t want them silent all the time, we want them to talk (or babble or laugh) when we’re okay with it. Not when we have guests at home, or when we’re watching our favourite TV serial.’
If that’s the issue, then why not invest in a handy little battery-powered baby doll from a toy shop which will “talk if you press its tummy!” instead of having a child? Perfect remedy to the parenting problem. And some of them are darn cute these days. Chubby cheeks, dimple chin, and all that.
indianspeechie 