When we go out with NR

I’ve always carried most of the items from the list in a bag especially when we go for a road trip for couple of hours to visit friends.

1.  His favorite books


2. Flash cards or photos


3. Drawing books


4. Diego videos and a 8 inch DVD player ( bought the DVD player ten years back but very rarely we used it )


5. His favorite music (MP3 player)


6. His favorite nursery rhymes videos


7. Toys or games


8. Windup toys

 I have a memory like sieve. I often used to forget to take an item or two from the list. From last March ,I just carry just one item in my bag  . Our IPAD.

Wtih IPAD every item in the list checked when we go out. I still take his windup toys along with IPAD .  IPAD has such positive influence in my son’s life. I cannot express in words our gratitude and how much it has changed our life. We can take NR out anywhere and we haven’t seen him cry not once in a new place. A big heartfelt “thanks” to the IPAD team at apple.

 NR would sit in a place and play with his spelling app with such focus that nothing around him bothers him.  NR afraid of loud sounds, confined/dark rooms or unfamiliar places at times. He was so curious about alphabets right from the time he started crawling. He would gaze at the minute print on the label from his toys, swing or his baby gates. Right from eighth month onwards he would always use books in the right way. I used to tease him by giving the book in an inverted position. He would either turn the book or roll to the right side and then keep looking at the pictures.

 Whenever we go for desi gatherings especially birthday parties, I have seen few parents having different opinion about my two-year old using the IPAD.Most people appreciate  my son's good behaviour and compliment him as a smart boy.  But both parties have no idea about the challenges we face on everyday basis. I just give my usual wide smile to the compliments. But I don’t understand the 30-year-old grown up women with kids being bothered by a well-behaved kid. Instead of enjoying the party or looking after their own kids they spend the good time gossiping about a two-year old baby.  Shame on them. Nobody has right to judge other people's kids especially when they are not bothering/harassing or bullying others kids.

 Then I hear the debate about impact of technology on kids. Parents  not spending enough time with kids or  fighting/arguing and disrespecting each other in front of our children or having biased opinion about religion, caste or social status of others have lifetime impact on kids than the technology. How many of us think for second before we complain about our in-laws, friends, or husband in front of our kids? Do you use proper language in front of your kids? Sadly  current generation of parents worry about the cognitive development than the emotional development of a child.

After all ,my two-year old is using technology wisely for learning his alphabets. We never taught him anything or gave him IPAD voluntarily but I do use IPAD as a tool to teach him some important life skills. The people who are near and dear to NR not only agree with us but commend us for knowing  him better.  And being born to parents working in the latest technology , he would have definitely inherited our passion. And I see no issue with that : ).

I come across mothers, teachers, doctors, therapist on daily basis appreciating the impact of IPAD on kids. I couldn't agree more. Like everything else ,it's up to the parents to guide them in the right way.  We are heading in the direction where IPAD in future will  replace class room paper text books.

Here are some of the articles written by seasoned journalists

1.http://www.indystar.com/article/20110417/OPINION03/104170418/To-succeed-explore-best-practices?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7COpinion%7Cs

2.http://blogs.scholastic.com/royaltreatment/2011/03/ipad2-made-for-teaching.html

3.http://e-blahblah.com/index.php/2011/01/1300/

4.http://thejournal.com/articles/2010/10/13/ushering-ipad-into-the-classroom.aspx

5.http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/05/education/05tablets.html

6.http://www.ipadinschools.com/

People who are opposing technology blindly should take a look at the turn of events taking place around us. We are living in the era of wiki-leaks. Within twenty years of embracing technology, India which was considered a developing nation in 1980's,  is leading the world in software technology.