Instant Messaging with your kids
So this isn’t a proper game related post, but my families facility with IM is directly related to the amount of time we’ve spent online.
My oldest is IMing me in another window. He’s upstairs and researching a project on the Norse god, Thor. I find cool things, IM them to him, and he finds cool stuff and IMs back. He is an incredibly fast typist.
Now, before you criticize our not-so-long-distance relationship, please understand that I’ve been pretty dern sick and not much fun to be to close too! Â But I love IMing with my almost-teenager, and I’ve already told him that I hope we do this even after he’s grown and left home (to which he IMed back “Me too mom” – how fantastic is that?
I do not fear my kids spending ‘too much’ time gaming, or on the computer generally. They aren’t on the machines as much as I am, and all have active lives on the ball court or bikes or what have you. On the contrary, the time my kids spend online interacting with us is very valuable. Many teens are more facile with MySpace and Instant Messengers than their parents.  My kids are exposed to conversations about etiquette in these new interactive spaces. We actually talk about how what you type says about you. We have similiar conversations about emailing ‘thank-you’ notes that my own mom (and Sister Mary Gregory) taught me when I was his age.
I suppose that all parents strive to teach their children to be successful in the cultures into which they are born. They hope that their children navigate their lives in such a way that they are even more successful than their parents.  I believe that our future will be much more virtual than we can anticipate.
How you present yourself over IM, text messaging, email and whatever other wonders we come up with will be directly related to how successful you are in this new world.  The kids who can craft a complex and yet cogent sentence and skillfully use these new media will be well positioned when they want to go out and find jobs or establish themselves professionally.
(And, as a side note, my son talks to me MORE via IM than in real life. Maybe it’s less awkward? Who knows? Doesn’t matter, I love it.)
