Things that my children find extremely weird

You know that look that your children sometimes give you?  A sort of narrowed-eyed, withering look as if you are suddenly the weirdest person they have ever seen or spoken to.  It seems to happen more and more as the children grow up and they think they know everything.  Anything that is different or not how they would expect is just plain weird and here a few examples.

TVs that can’t be paused.  How weird is that? I know that being able to pause and rewind the television is a wondrous thing but you know how it was back in the day where you turned TVs on and off and that was it.  If you weren’t there, you missed it. The world didn’t end.  You didn’t ‘have’ to watch it all again on catch up.  If my children are engrossed in a TV program, all hell can break loose if the remote can’t be immediately located when a comfort break is required.  Some delightful individuals even take said remote to the bathroom with them to ensure that no one can unpause while they are away. (which by the way, I think it extremely weird)  But the most amusing thing is when we dare to visit a house with  normal ‘old-fashioned’ TV and I take great delight in watching my children desperately searching for the pause and rewind button on the remote.

On the subject of television, my son often asks me if there really was only four channels when I was young. He actually cannot believe it.  When I added that children’s television was only on for a couple of hours each day, I thought he might pass out from shock.  There was none of this 24-hour children’s TV back then and to be honest I’m not totally convinced that there needs to be now either, but for my kids this lack of non-stop children’s television is just plain silly.  Where would they be without all of those repeats? (probably doing something less boring instead, I say!)

Screens that aren’t touch screen. On a similar theme to the TVs, if they see a small screen, they will be jabbing their fingers on it like lunatics, and looking really strangely when it doesn’t respond.  What is the point of a screen if it isn’t a touch screen?

Cassettes and videos. Cassettes and videos played a big part in my childhood and teen years and I still think very fondly about madly recording my favourite songs onto blank cassettes from the Top 40 countdown on Radio 1 on a Sunday afternoon.  When I imparted this to my children, they all looked at me like I was a very sad individual indeed. What do they know? We knew how to live back in the eighties!

Mending and repairing things. Why on earth would you mend or repair something if you could just as easily buy another one?  Ripped clothes, broken phones, shoes that have been badly scuffed, no problem, just pop to the shop and get another one mum or even better, you don’t even have to do that, just grab the computer and buy online.  Money no object and oh yes, if you could do it by tomorrow morning, that would be great.

Which leads me nicely to my next point. Waiting.  Is it me, or are today’s kids extremely impatient? Waiting is not an option.  They need something, they want it yesterday and today is too long.  They have to go somewhere for an appointment but if there is a queue, you will suffer endless moans and groans, even if it is only for ten minutes.  If, however, prolonged waiting is required, how can this happen without the help of digital entertainment.  Car journies, hospital appointments, trips to the supermarket, any period of time where they are not engaged in an activity, they can not possibly survive without being surgically attached to a device.

Using books to find information. Devices are a huge game changer in the lives of our children, not only do they provide constant and up to date information and amusement, but they are also the givers of all information.  I recently blogged about whether children could live without Google and the whole idea of searching for information in a book can seem very strange indeed for our younger generations.

Eating what is put in front of you.  Stupidly, I have been known to make four extra meals in one sitting.  Crazy?  Very. Insane in fact. I will add here that this is an extremely rare occurrence but on those occasions, I think back to mealtimes in my house when I was young and I really did eat what was on my plate or I would go without.  Simple.

Tablets being something you took to make you feel better when you were ill. If I mention the word tablet in this house, the children’s screen-obsessed eyes light up.  I have reiterated on more than one occasion that when I talk about them having a tablet when they are ill, I mean the small white variety that will help make them feel better.  Having said that, I recently took my mum to watch the children swim, another parent was telling us how her son had been naughty and so she took away his tablet.  Cue a shocked face from my mother and she told the parent that it seemed a little harsh to take his medicine away.  That still makes me chuckle a few months later.

What things do your children find weird?