This morning I was trying to make myself look presentable for the nursery run and turned around to see Little E amusing herself on the iPad. She insisted on wearing her Hello Kitty headphones despite it just being the two of us and knew exactly how to plug them in, turn on the iPad and select her favourite games.
Now, I am at an impasse here - on the one hand I am quite impressed my little girl has such a great grasp of technology, after all she is going to grow up surrounded and immersed by it more than I ever was. By the time she gets to senior school all work will be done on tablets and laptops and will people even use pens and paper!?! But there is a huge part of me that wants to grab the tablet from her and give her a book or an etch-a-sketch! She's not even three, she shouldn't know how to access the App Store and attempt to buy the latest Barbie app...
My mother in law is always telling me how technology is ruining communication and I agree with her but surely stopping our kids from having access to technology would do just as much damage? It all comes back to balance - that word should be the first thing explained to a new parent. Half an hour on the Ipad whilst I struggle with the straightening irons is not going to ruin my daughter. If it was constant babysitter then that would be another issue.
But I'll still be getting the colouring books out later to make myself feel better!
