D-Man usually gets a "big" gift for Christmas--the one thing he really wants that can be a bit pricey--and a few little things to go with it. There isn't a big gift he's been asking for this year, and I have been struggling to think of something good.
Despite endless pestering, lecturing, punishments, etc., D-Man usually gets away with doing the bare minimum in school. Getting ready to enter high school next year, it's more than time for him to step up his game.
I've heard him say how much he hates computers. This would be a bad thing, especially if you are Gen Y or younger, and increasingly, "computer illiterate" greatly increases the chances that your hopes and dreams of doing more than digging ditches as an adult will get scattered.
So I thought: netbook.
MixedReflection's Mind: "He will have his very own device to upload his photographs (possibly leading to an interest in capturing that perfect artistic image), to conduct research (for the next science project), to write e-mails (communicating with members of the family), to learn to type well (to make homework more bearable and to increase his skills), to have his own iTune control center (so he won't download all of that doodoo music on mine), to develop spreadsheets and documents in Google Docs, etc., etc. In any case, he will become extremely computer literate but will be 'tricked' into becoming so!"
D-Man wasn't too into this idea. He was very anti-netbook.
I worked on it with him for a while and was eventually silenced by Husband who said, "If he doesn't want a netbook, why are you trying to convince him he does?"
So I told D-Man I was dropping it. "Okay, just tell me something you would like--OTHER than a remote controlled car. I'm not spending money on that."
Less than 5 minutes later, he said, "Yeah, you know, I really do want a netbook."
D-Man's Mind: "I will have my very own device to upload [inappropriate] photographs, to conduct research (on girls I like at school), to IM peeps from the bus, to learn to type well (oh screw that!), to have my own iTune control center (so parents won't be able to censor my selections), start my own Facebook page, etc.
Obviously D-Man and I have very different ideas about this gift and what it might be used for.
I guess the funniest thing is that yesterday I suggested to him I was thinking the netbook might not be such a good idea after all. His reaction?
"No!!! I want a netbook!"
8 comments:
Two years ago, I would have agreed, netbook. I got MDW one because she wanted a new laptop and they were the only things available with Windows XP. But it's just too darn small. The keyboard is small, the screen is small, and it has no inboard DVD drive to load software from. She doesn't like it. Maybe it's good for a kid, but not an adult. On the plus side, it's light and easy to carry, and it runs a long time on batteries. But now laptops are as cheap as netbooks, and way more powerful. So if I bought another today, it would be a laptop.
Reverse Psychology at its finest...except for the the whole thing sort of backfiring, what with your second thoughts and all...
If your computers are on a network, perhaps you could have the best of both worlds: D-Man could have the netbook, and you'd be able to "check in" to see what he's doing with it...
you'll never get him off it :-(
I do declare that you will from now on have a huge problem getting him to school on time. lol
Get him an ipad. Kids don't want anything that doesn't have an apple on it. It just flat ain't cool.
Sounds like you've raised him well Gropie. He shuns material things and is bored stiff at school. I was the same way. I needed a goal, which was never provided. A word of advice. Take him to some really cool event at New College and see if it lights him up.
Are you sure you aren't using reverse psychology on young D-Man?
G-Man wants an iTouch... which he won't get because I don't see any real value in it like a netbook. I guess he'll get lots of socks.
I guess I am from the old school, being an old guy. My feeling is that with high school fast approaching, the time has come for any child to begin to understand that we only get in life for which we work.
Time for "big" Christmas presents to be scaled down. The size of the gift is not directly indicative of the love of the giver. If D-Man is not prepared to work hard, and instead hardly works, downsizing this Christmas is the best present you can give him.
He sounds like a smart young man...he'll figure it out. My girls did, and they work two jobs all summer long so that they will have the money they want for the rest of the school year.
Self-reliance and a sense of quid pro quo was the greatest gift we gave them...
LOL! That's awesome. The power of reverse psychology!
I have a netbook and I love it! I took it to Mexico with me last year and it was perfect!
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