Adam is a geek. A card-carrying geek. It’s a well-documented fact. And, while I don’t think I qualify as a true geek, I’m certainly a geek wannabe. So why is it a surprise that our child, at the ripe old age of 16 months, is already a computer addict?
How much time does he get at the computer. Oh, I’d say pretty much none. He likes to sit on our lap while we’re on the computer and try to bang on the keys, but we discourage it. I’ll sometimes put an old keyboard on the floor for him to play with. And we do own one little kiddie computer game, but I’ve only let him play it twice in the past four months. Going to the library these days is a disaster as he heads straight for the computers and points and whines until I’m able to turn up all the keyboards and move all the mice (is that the plural for a computer mouse? Sounds funny) out of reach.
So is it any surprise that when we went to a playsapce with a computer, Doodles made a beeline for it and refused to budge from it for the two hours we were there. It wasn’t so bad when it was off, but the “kind” director said, “Oh, there’s a game on there,” and proceeded to turn the thing on before I could say, “No, thanks.” Doodles, of course, couldn’t play the game as he can’t press specific keys nor can he manipulate the mouse properly. But it’s not for lack of trying.
Other kids wanted to play with the computer. I wanted my child to run around, wear himself out good. So after a more-than-reasonable amount of time, I took him. Oh, the howls that could be heard cross town. Major meltdown time. I was able to distract him–for about five minutes. And then back to the computer. Sigh. What should I have expected?
