Boys and their toys

No, not those toys, get your minds out of the gutter.  Actually it's more about kids these days and their toys.  When I was kid, our toys consisted of a bike; a ball, bat and glove; a dump truck; and a basketball.  We had three channels on TV, plus PBS which almost doesn't count.  And yes, we had to walk to school uphill in both directions.

Now, kids are weak, soft.  They don't know how good they've got it.  There's new technology coming out seemingly everyday, shit that just years ago we couldn't even imagine.

Last year, Hayden got a Kindle Fire for either his birthday or Christmas (both events are within a couple days of each other so I never remember whether I got him something or Santa did).  He was 8 at the time and had more technology in his little hands than NASA used to put someone on the moon.  This year, Jennifer somehow won and Apple iPod and decided that would make a great birthday gift.

Before his birthday, she charged it and downloaded all the games he liked to play when he commandeers her phone.  To say the least, it was a hit.

Over the past couple years, Hayden has used the land line phone at home like any other person.  He's been known to call Grandma and set up dates without us knowing about it and is very at ease talking on the phone.  Now, with his iPod, he uses Facetime or Skype to have video calls with family members....all...day...long.  On the weekends, he's literally got the iPod in his hands all the time.  He recently went to a hockey game with Grandma and Grandpa and had to take it, "in case I get any calls."  Ask him about it, he'll tell you, "that's how I roll."

A couple days ago he and I were working on math and I wasn't pleased with his progress.  I told him no more Skype or Facetime til he learned some basic math skills, that were up to my standards.  You would have thought I'd just run over his puppy.

Yesterday was the first day of this corporal punishment (at least in his eyes).  I told him he could use his Kindle for the math game that's on it, but nothing else.  That grew old quick.  One of his grandmas recently had eye surgery and he wanted to check on her, so he grabbed the iPod.  I told him that's not how it worked and that if he wanted to talk to Grandma, he needed to call her on the phone.

Again, you would have thought I'd just run over his other puppy.  "NO," he screamed, "NOT THE TELEPHONE!!!"  Like it was some old technology like actually mailing a letter.  I just laughed at him for how rough he's got it. 

Kids, they just don't realize how good they've got it.