I Have Always Wanted to Use the Word "Gizmo"....

Mommy Proof #19: Technology is the devil.

I don't know my children anymore. Four years ago, I bought my precious angels a hand held educational video game. I live five hours from my parents and I was hoping I could keep them occupied in the car. It worked! The only problem is it worked too well. Every time I turned around, I was buying and replacing batteries. We were on a search for games. I was telling them to take a break. I was encouraging them to read a book and color a picture....not a screen.

Eventually, I hid them. Both of their games were hidden in a place that sometimes I couldn't remember. I also hid their cartridges. Out of sight. Out of mind. And it worked. I would "find" them whenever we went to a trip that took longer than two hours. Then, we purchased a vehicle with a DVD player. It was heavenly on the road trips to my parents. The kids sat contently watching a screen until the closing credits. Then, we would be shocked into reality. "MOM!!!!!!" "THE MOVIE IS OVER!!!!!" "MOM!!!!! I want to watch (insert whatever popular children's movie)." It went from that to them picking a out movie for a 8 minute trip to the grocery store....and back. I put a stop to it! I took the DVDs out of the SUV. I stocked the SUV with books and small toys. I would calmly respond to request for a movie, with read this book or play with that toy.

Then, they got older and a WII entered my home. Well, at least they were active. Right? It was fine for a while. Until one of them got the hang of the game before  the other did. Then, two could play better than the other. Then, we needed another controller. Who gets to play first? Who gets to choose the game? Then, that got old and they discovered my NINTENDO DS.....and adopted it as their own. And the baby grew up. And he needed a game. So I got him one, then they wanted to play it. Then, he didn't have a game again. Then, the DS broke after someone dropped it on the ground. THAT WAS IT! I decided that day, I would not be buying another electronic device again. I am tired of touch screens and graphics. I am tired of hearing "bleep bloop bloppity boop." We live in an era of smart phones, laptops, tablets, and e-readers. There is literally an App for finding apps. I don't want my children to turn a page by flicking their finger across a screen. I want them to have to turn on the flashlight under the covers to sneak and read the pages. I don't want them to have to charge their gadget or gizmo to get lost in reading.


So why did I just buy them each a gadget, device, and gizmo? O_o