Growing Up Too Fast?

The Week In Review section of the New York Times has a piece by Benedict Carey that discusses the pros and cons of kids growing up on iPods, cell phones, and videogames.  It contrasts this world with the world I grew up in where our toys were lincoln logs, erector sets, and legos.

My kids certainly prefer iPods, cell phones, and videogames to legos, lincoln logs, and erector sets, although they do/did play with the toys of my generation a fair amount.

But I am not sure that this new technology driven age is all that bad for kids.  My generation grew up on TV bigtime.  And we seem to be coping pretty well with all that the world is throwing at us.

I also think the notion that iPods, cell phones, and videogames don’t lead to imaginative play is wrong. 

Earlier this week Josh and his friends were playing with my iPod on the way back from playing football in the park.  They came up with a whole story about the music they were listening to and decided to make a movie about it when they got home with our digital video camera. There was a ton of imagination, creative energy, and kids being kids in that situation. 

Technology is a fact of our lives and our kids are figuring out how to relate to it in the way that kids deal with everthing.  And that’s just fine with me.