In Case of Emergency, Play with Something
Else For A While
My 7 year
old daughter uses the Internet as just like any other of
her playthings - nothing exclusive, just something else
to play with.
One of my favorite pastimes is watching her find her own
way - seeing how she integrates the Internet into her 'way
of life'. Marielle learned to start the computer and use the mouse to reach
selected bookmarks the way she learns everything else in
her play world - simply by watching her friends play on
their computers. Intially, Kinder Pagina was her portal to the virtual
world, and the "Kids-to-Kids" video “Tomorrow
is a Dream”one of her favorite destinations. Today,
Marielle has her own homepage.
Because
we have cable connection to the Internet, we (unlike most
Europeans) have no need to worry about exploding telephone
costs. Consequently, Marielle runs her own Internet
Café at our house, offering free access to other kids in
the neighbourhood.. Even older girls (12-13 years of age)
like to play with her now.
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Marielle in the middle of
friends
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Watching
the kids play, I was touched and reassured to discover how
frequently the older girls would choose to teach the younger.
Drawing from their experience and what they learned from
their peers, the older girls seemed to love initiating the
younger ones into the mysteries of laying claim to the virtual
world..
They took special pains to give it all an air of "it's
such an ordinary thing to do": What shall we play today?
Why don't we make a homepage?
Their homepages may be simple, but they know how to make
them. They may work only an hour on the homepage and suddenly
decide to go out and play ball. Come back an hour later,
and just pick up where they left off in their virtual homesteading.
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Wondering
how she could possibly take all this so casually, I asked
my daughter: "Marielle what do you do when the computer
won't work? How do you fix problems when they occur?"
”Well,” she said: “I don't make it a big problem. If you or
one of my brothers is there I can ask them what is wrong.
Otherwise, I just go and play with something else. When I
try again the next time, it usually works.”
This is what I learned from my daughter: when it’s broken,
don’t fix it. Go outside and play ball. Don’t waste your time
getting angry and frustrated. Play with another toy for awhile. |
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