Comparing the times...

During my days when i was young, when we received a Barbie Doll, we will be on clouds nine... and not much toys are needed and we are happy... Think as time goes, people starts to earn more money and starts to pamper themselves with good stuff... Personally i own a PSP and itouch that explains how things changes as times goes by.... and nowadays kids are different....

For myself, my house are filled with toys... Since the arrival of Xinru, i have been showering her with Fisher-Price big toys.... Don't be mistaken that i am looking at brands... The real reason is the toys are attractive enough and are educational. Although the price are slightly on the high side, but for us who not only plan to have 1 kid, its worth the investment... :)

Her first time hands on on a gadget was thru my cousin's wife. We went to a chalet held by my cousin and she shared with Xinru the DS Lite, playing Cooking Mama... Afterwhich, whenever we were out with my cousin's wife, she will asked to play with it....

As for my PSP, Xinru did hands on too but i did not allow her to play for long. Reasoning being that she will not know how to stop and will surely make noise when i ask it back from her. There was once she saw it inside my bag and i told her there was no battery already. She just leave it.

Lately, she came in touch with itouch. She will asked for it whenever i am around and initially when i got her to return and get on with other stuff, she will asked for some more and did fuss a few times. I told her that if she does not know how to listen when to return and when to stop, i am not going to let her touch any more. She listened and whenever we went for dinner, she will ask for it while waiting for the food to come and once the food is here, i just need to tell her 'ok, time to eat. Please off the itouch'. She will complete what she is doing and switch it off properly. And when we reached home, she will ask again till i get her to bath. The duration that she played is rather short, at most 20mins. Knowing that she understand how to control and listen as and when i say 'stop' i allowed her to get it from me as and when she wants it.

Sometimes i am surprised with nowdays kids. I believe Xinru is not the smartest on Gadget but i would say that she is kind of pro over gadgets. You just need to tell her once how to access to certain games or to switch off the gadget properly, the next minute she can do it like how we did it. Sometimes she will just see how we access and she will do it herself which amazed my hubby and mom.

Ever tot of passing my gadget to her at this stage? My answer is 'NO'. I feel that for her stage now, gadgets seems too 'mature' for her to posses one. And i notice that while on gadgets, we tends to ignore the surroundings which i personally encounter on myself and notice on others which is not healthy.. But i believe with proper guidance, control of usage and certain restrictions on what they does on gadgets, playing on gadgets does not posed more negative then positives issue on them.