Raina had an expected ring at the backdoor yesterday, post-Christmas. It was a bag with a box loosely wrapped in Christmas gift-wrapping as though some toddler had done it...or was it just someone who had undone the wrapping?
The blue bag with the blue wrapping paper seemed at once inviting. So, rather than unwrap it for Raina, I let her have a go and what was inside made her eyes sparkle like brown diamonds reflecting sunlight in water. It was a Laughtop. Even I was intrigued and so was Tiffany. So, I quickly took out my pliers and began ripping the plastic ties and cardboard covering off of the toddler-sized computer. It's a toy but small enough for Raina to tote in a backpack, or just carry with one little puggy hand.
It was about two minutes when Raina learned she had a video game console, or something like it, at her fingertips. I remember when my brother John and I had our first Nintendo game console. It was a 16-bit graphic supported game system, and not a BIT less exciting. We played Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from sun-up to sundown. We were for a long time addicted until we had families, and our fake fantasy came crashing down around us. But, now I can pass along the fiendishly bad habit of starving the brain of really good education and leaving it the ravenous dogs of wasted time and idle hand and eye movement of videogaming combat.
JUST KIDDING!
Raina's Laughtop has four different sections of games all devoted to phonetic learning, but it would be a shame to allow her to fall prey to using it as soon as she wakes up, or right before she goes to sleep.
Technology isn't bad, it just should not drive the motive of living and be the focus of learning. She's still has much to learn, and from my lessons I can nip that wasted time to just 30 minutes per day. She loves the Laughtop because it's laughable!
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