Our lives is full of screen time!

Ask yourself this question.

How can I "NOT" allow my child to be fully acquainted with the electronic screen?

Oh well, what can I say. In our household, we have 2 laptops, 1 desktop, 1 big tv and a PS2, and Jnr and me is wishing for a Nintendoo DS, and PapaGecko is hoping for a Nintendo WII.

I truly believe in the idea that electronic screens is now very much part of our lives, and will continue to be a very common encounter in our future lives, especially our son.

I see the tv as a more effecient educational tool, like a singing, dancing and entertaining version of the good old paper and cover encyclopedia. And wiht all these satelites, our access to knowledge is boundariless!

And with all these advancement in technologies, like humankind sending moonbuggies out to another planet, and observing it's activity via the screen again from earth. Or that special multimillion dollar electronic arm that can be control from inside the space station, to help do all those dangerous fixing of the space station. Again, it's being controlled by an astronaut viewing a screen with a joystick on hand, and because it's so expensive, you wouldn't want someone who's got bad hand and eye coordination to handle it! The choice would be an obvious someone who's had game console experience! How about keyhole surgeries? Again, you wouldn't want a surgeon who's never been near a game console before, starts operating on you via looking at a screen, a experience totally alien to him, would you? PDA phones, self scanning cash tills, and many more.

Look around our lives now, we are never far away from an electronic screen. People working in call centers is constantly in front of a computer screen, traders in the forex exchange pit is intensely infront of thier screens, animators working on the latest Disney feature is constantly working infront of the screen, and lastly but not least, PapaGecko, in his very ordinary job of an IT consultant, is working infront of the laptop's screen, everyday. I believe our children lives will be even more drenched in electronic screens everywhere.

We adults growing up without all these technologies, finds it scary and perplexing. We're constantly asking ourselves "How does it do that?!!" "WE" are the ones who are finding all these tvs and computers scary because we had limited chance to live with them, explore them and grow with them. This concept of learning via looking at a screen is so unfamiliar, hence we don't know what damage it can do, hence best to shut it down first, before it gets worst. This is a vey natural human reflex, it's the "sense unfamilairity, lets' flee" nature way to preserve our lives.

But how can we possibly understand the characteristic of such machines and anticipate thier immense capabilities and possibilities, if we are not allow such long hours of exploring and learning of such machines? So, do we really want our kid to have this same kind of fear and uncertainty? Don't forget, our children's world will have more screens and machines than ours, so much so, we could possibly create limitations, and un-nessaccery fear in them towards such technologies. All because we adults didn't understand it, didn't want to step out of our familiar and predictable zone. Hence we weren't gonna explore it with our children. Hence it would have been so easy to just accept what everyone is saying "too much tv or computer will zombiefied our children!" "It's bad, it'll teach them all those bad thing" Well, at least it's general consensus that the tv and computer is a teaching device!

I for one, felt, it was so stupid of me to listen and agree to all these other people's saying and not actually finding out for myself, if it's really true or maybe not? So I've decided to find the truth, hence, off with the time limits and on with the games.

Well, the results is , my son binged and gorged on the PS2, including the "baddest" Grand Theft Auto, and he's now not interested in it anymore. Infact, he's now after the Nintendoo DS for that puppy training and brainiac game.

His computer skills has lead us to this scenario. My 7 yr old is so proficient with his laptop and internet and is now communicating via spelling (and learning t spell more words day by day) and typing (his typing speed is picking up!) with another Toon friend in his Disney online community. Where else his peers are still struggling to even understand how to switch on the computer, learning how to type, never mind comprehending the vast world of the internet. My child is now very aware if he wants to know anything, all he has to do is Google it! There is no limit to his need for knowledge! He still needs to be reminded about gvng his eyes and brain a rest in order not to get those bad headaches (result from sitting infront of the same screen for too long, so now he alternate between laptop and tv).

His mind is now attracted to the idea of animation and film making. He's excited abut how you can draw something in the screen, the computer animation program can make it move. But he's not necessarily interested to find out more and why and how it does that. He is aware that's the characteristic of animation program, and what it can do or cannot do (and sometimes questioning "wouldn't it be better if it can to this too?". This to me, is the emergence of a possible need to "design" something better! He can get me to video him climbing that monkey frame, down load it onto the internet for his grandma (across the world) to see. Because of our Skype chats, he's aware of how everypart of the world have different time zones, and why.

Now if these lessons is not helpful to him when he's an adult, I don't what is.

So ask yourself the same question again. How can I "NOT" allow my child to achieve his full capabilities in mastering such magnificent technologies?