In our digital age new phrases make sense to our children, but make me laugh. Tonight our son and I were reading a book. He had to go grab a sleep toy from his sister's room and asked, "Will you please pause the book, mommy?"
It makes me giggle when he says this. He grabbed the toys and came back. As he was climbing back into his bed he said, "Ok mommy, you can press play on the book again."
They have both figured out the remotes, how to turn on a movie, music, use the speakers, record a show and play it back. At 7 and 3 1/2 years old, they are working in PhotoShop for fun on the weekends because they like using the various filters over photos of themselves.
We are very much a digital house; but we are a digital house that loves holding and reading books. There is an intimacy and peace that goes with books. I know we are edging towards the type of books we can roll up in our pocket, and call up any number of favorite titles to read anywhere without worry of glare or reflection; but we are not there yet. Kindle, ebook readers from Sony and others are in their infancy. This will soon the the norm for new book publication. You'll have your own library at your fingertips in a visually friendly format unlike reading on your basic computer monitor. Any time, any place electronic books are in the future.
For now, we have shelves of books that we own. These books have been collected together, purchased with gift money, given to us as gifts. Nearly every book has a memory of someone attached to it. They are our friends, our peaceful friends. I may end up with a reader some day, but I will not want to ever part with our paper and cloth bound books. I also enjoy sharing my written friends with my smiling friends. I have about a dozen books that we all pass around and then share reviews for these books. I can't imagine that intimate experience with an electronic version.
Each night we read to each child for about 45 minutes. It is our time to unwind from the day and put technology, schedules, politics, and woes aside. It is our time to snuggle up with our favorite people and take them to some place magical.
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