The Meanest Mom

A technological wizard I am not. My husband, the techie a.k.a. computer nerd, does not understand my inability to comprehend technological advanced gadgets-they make me crazy with all the buttons, options and manuals. My husband bought me an iphone with the hopes I would learn how to use the calendar, address book and notepad so I would no longer overflow the desk with my unnecessary books, papers and pens, but (after a small war, which I won), I have refused to turn to the dark side and trust a technological device with my precious information. I have the same trust issues with the hard drive? and photographs, even trusting some little device on the computer to hold these memories of my children concerns me so I print off every single picture and label the back with the name, date, place and age of child (this may be an obsessive compulsive behavior, but it's my only one so I think it's o.k.) and store them all in photo books arranged by the year-in my defense this obsession only occurred after a computer glitch erased an entire year of our lives in photographs. I also have an ipod that has me completely confused, it plays music but how does the music get on there? And my gift card from my sweet husband for itunes that I will never figure out. Crazy, right? While the rest of the world leaves it up to the computers, I trust paper calendars, CDs, and photo albums that I can pull off the shelves and touch with my bare hands.

Yesterday my oldest made a wish list for his upcoming 8th Birthday (in a week), but all he can talk about is a DSI. I have (or had) no idea what this was or what this meant until today. Spencer tells me that ALL of his friends have one, he is the only one without. I've listened to the begging and pleading since Christmas so today I went to the toy store and browsed the electronics section repeating DSI over and over in my head. So many gadgets, so much confusion. I finally, and reluctantly, walked over to a salesperson and asked what a DSI was. I know that Moms should know this stuff, but I do not. He was very sweet and lead me over to a glass case full of confusing computer looking devices that I would never understand. As he points to the "cheap and older version" DSIs he tells me that they are only $150. I tried not to look completely bewildered at the price alone, but foolishly asked him what type of phone this was? He looked at me as if I just asked him what planet he was from and he laughs a little, "Maam, this just plays games, but this one (pointing to the newer model) plays games, takes pictures, is 3D and plays MP4 music" (and is $170-games not included-which he forgot to add). I told him to slow it down, he was talking WAY over my head and what the heck is an MP4? "Well it's like an MP3, but it's a little different." Clearly I wasn't going to understand the meaning of an MP3 or 4 so I shrugged my shoulders and he took me over to try one out.

"It's basically a handheld video game, right? and you sell a lot of these to parents buying for 8 year olds?", I asked. (I was trying to prove Spencer wrong). He told me parents are buying them for kids as young as 5 and the average age is 6, 7 & 8 year olds, but we had to watch out for the 3D version because it had a chance of ruining my child's vision.

HMMM, let me think about this. An insanely expensive handheld video game that my (soon to be) 8 year old will play whenever and wherever he wants (will I ever see him again or will he hide away in video game land for the rest of his childhood?) and as an added bonus, it may ruin his eyes. I think NO! Yes, I'm the meanest Mom ever because I have denied my almost 8 year old the video game contraption that all of his friends have because their parents are cool and understand technology and, obviously, have money growing on trees. I'm the meanest Mom because I don't want him addicted to video games and I want him to explore other interests. I'm the meanest Mom because I Love Him and I don't think this is a good option for our family right now. In about 2 hours I will break the news that he won't be getting a DSI this year and in about 2 hours I will cause my son heartbreak and tears because I'm the Meanest Mom!