It's a Different World

I certainly didn't walk five miles to school, uphill both ways, in the snow; I never even walked to school.  The biggest "in your face" tale I have for my children is this:

When I was a kid, the only channels on tv were 4, 5, 9, 13, 25, 34 and 43 (and 43 was latecoming, too).  And 25, 34, and 43 were on the UHF dial ("Mom, what's UHF?  What's a dial?  On your tv?") and you were lucky if those channels came in at all.

And when you wanted to see what was on the other six channels, you actually had to get up, walk across the room and turn the dials because remote controls were nonexistant ("Mom, what's a dial?  You mean, like a button, like we push today on the remote?"). 

But I don't feel like making more comparisons like that.  No, I've got one that places a good generation gap between even Andy and Paul.

"Mawm.  I wan to pway Dwagontawles dawt com."  Translation:  "Mom.  I want to play dragontales.com."

"I don't think there's a Dragontales dot com," I said as gently as possible, hoping the little white lie wiould be forgiven by the Almighty because I would like to use my computer sometimes- call me crazy.

And the look on Paul's face?  That was a pivitol moment in my three year old's life.  The moment when he realized, for the first time, that his mom OBVIOUSLY didn't know everything.  And that he, Paul, knew more than her.

"Yes, Mawmma.  Der is a Dwagontawles dawt com.  I pway it on compuher.  Yes, Mawmma.  I show you."

And what I realized in that moment was, not that my kid was calling my bluff but, that my three-year old knows that everything in his world has a dot com somewhere on my computer.  His world is built that way.  Even Andy, just four years older than him, still asks me "Mom, is there a website for Gormati?"  Paul already knows that there's a website for Gormati or Dragontales or Caillou, or whatever his little heart desires.  It's not even a question.

Just four years separating the two boys and one minor, yet huge, difference in their preschool years.  

"Mom, what's a dial again?  Seriously?  You had seven stations?"

 Another funny, this time between Rachel and her brothers both, is the advent of the DVR into our world.  Rachel grew up with VHS, Andy grew up with both VHS but mostly DVDs and Paul just wonders why that black rectangle is stuck inside that machine that doesn't seem to work properly. 

"Mom, I need to tape Pokemon, okay?"  Tape.  Because in the good ol' days, you taped something onto your VHS tapes.  Kevin and I still say "tape" even though the proper terminology these days is "record" or "dvr."  So, our kids say "tape."  But they say "tape this" because we say it and because they've ALWAYS said it, they'll never question it.

Kinda like how the "cc" is on every email you write up, allowing you to "carbon copy" someone else.  I doubt the younger generation actually says "cc me when you email the dude," but they don't question the "cc" being there.  I doubt they even know what it stands for, but it's ALWAYS been in their world, so whatever.

"Mom?  Let's talk about this dial thing again.  I just don't understand it."