Once Again Rose Proves that Computer-Ease is Second Nature

A few nights ago, when I was tucking Rosie into bed, she gave me an idea for her birthday. She had seen a handheld video game on TV that comes with a little animal that resides inside the casement of the video game. She wanted me to look for it the next time I went shopping. I told her it would be helpful if I knew the name of the game and then I’d be able to look for it at the store. She said I should look for it on the Internet. I told her that I still needed to know the name. She said, “No Mom. Just go to a google search box and type in ‘video game that includes a stuffed animal’”.  Of course she was right but I was shocked that she knew exactly how to look for the item.

The next day, when she woke one of the first things she asked me was whether I or Andy had looked for the game on on the Internet.  I told her that we hadn't.  After kindergarten, she went to a friend's house and came home shortly before I had to meet Frankie at the end of his day. I ran over to the school and left Rita and Rose at home. When I returned, Rosie was at the computer looking at Google search results for “video game that comes with a stuffed animal”. She had typed that in all by herself!

A couple years ago when I started blogging and learning about things like Twitter, Youtube, MySpace and others, I told myself that those efforts would help me be a "mom-in-the-know"--that I'd be up on the way young people communicated and wouldn't be left in the dark while my kids forged their online identities.  Let's face it, I'm kidding myself.  By the time Rosie is 10, I expect she'll be way ahead of me.  Password protect my machine?  What a joke.  When she wants to do something, nothing can stop her--certainly not her mom's technological savvy.