7/23 #6
Count - That's how many kids interact these days.
Rather a disturbing thought really ....And this is the way kids "play" these days ...interacting vicariously
thru the distance of a motherboard. I mean, there's no turning back from the technology aspect of it... As a kid (before pc's) Play was alot more physical and interactive. Hide and Seek .. Army ... coloring books...the occasional puppet and sock shows
.....and yeah, thank goodness sports and art programs are still alive and well..although they too are being phased out of more and more schools and colleges due to budgeting and liability issues...Just having a hard time imagining kids of the future.
I'm not too concerned about my kids. They both play soccer and tennis, and my daughter also does ballet (my son is only seven, so time will tell what else he might pick up). They do not have any electronic
devices of their own other than a cd player and not allowed to use ours unless for a school project or by special permission (the occasional game on the playstation or a game that I hand pick for quasi-educational purposes--such as this one:
Taipan!). They like to communicate in person and by voice--sometimes too much.
I think the attraction is due to the novelty... and that Minecraft is essentially digital Lego with crappy graphics.
They are also being phased out because schools now seem to believe (Common Core) that no one is allowed to "win" because they don't want anyone to feel like they are "losers."
That is not Common Core--that's Political Correctness. Common Core is more of an effort to have students learn how to explain/understand their answers rather than just memorizing the answer. For example, in math, instead of slogging through repetitive problems or memorizing multiplication tables, my kids have been doing exercises to improve their number-
sense, so that they can multiply 5 and 5, 10, 17, and 364 in their heads with similar ease. It actually is quite impressive. Common Core is the catch-phrase, too, for how to test for this.
But because they have decided to cut down the entire forest to the size of the smallest tree, everyone loses.
And that is the catch for public education: cultivate/push the gifted students (and be accused of elitism) or teach toward the lowest common denominator?
It's probably hard having a kid and try to have them not use technology that much when every kid at school is getting the newest gadgets all the time.
Exactly! My son's friend showed up with his own devices... and my wife figured if they didn't play on them here, they would just go to his house and do the same thing there. I know kids who just turned ten who have their own smartphones as well as tablets--and the pressure just mounts for those who don't have the devices. Talk about peer-pressure!
I gotta agree with everyone... we spent our free time outdoors building forts and hiking and biking... I always wanted an Atari 2600, and had fun over at a friend's house - he had one. .. but they've rather ruined a lot, now.
I remember pestering my friend to play the Atari... but he'd already gotten bored of it and wanted to play outside--something I did all the time. I guess the grass really is greener....
And with that, I'm going to sign off for the day. Good night, Treefam!
( ...after visiting your website) ..yes ..you are! 
...very nice site and Beautiful work!
