Time to Smarten Up

The time has arrived. My abilities to Deceive to Achieve (see February 2008 blog …) are increasingly limited – those little white lies are not suffice to fuddle muddled minds anymore, and full-blown lies are necessary. Now, I know mothers with a moral conscience can be dangerous things, but even I draw the line at blatant bare-faced lying (recent Santa shenanigans notwithstanding).

Last week I was luxuriating in the snugginess of our usual morning bed read-in. The books were just out of reach on the windowsill, and sandwiched between two very warm and wriggly girls I suggested Daisy go and fetch them.
“You get them mummy,” was the reply.
“Well, you’re closer love, you get them.”
Without a second’s hesitation, she rolled over on top of me, squeezed in between Poppy and me, and looked up angelically,
“You’re closer. You get them!”
Stunned into silence by a smart three year old, I’d reached a new low.

Somehow, while I’ve been dumbing down, they’ve been smartening up. This is not a good situation for a mother to be in. I always knew babies were cute in more ways than one. Poppy knows the exact pitch to aim her danger-decibel screech at to have me jump out of my bed/chair/wits in a second (usually to present me with a toothy grin once I’ve staggered to her side).

But are they getting too smart? Am I going to be able to keep up or am I going to turn (more) into my mother who after 20 years of me showing her, still can’t work the video? I’m just about computer literate – admittedly more Peter and Jane level, than War and Peace. But my children will never have known as age where computers are not a fundamental part of everyday life. It recently took me three days to work out how to put the SIM card into my new iphone, only to handle it gingerly without actually using it for another week, so scared I was of it. Not sure what I thought it was going to do, but it sure felt like a ticking bomb of technological danger to me. So maybe it’s a good thing my girls will be smarter than me. With my husband even more of a technophobe than me, it might be very useful to have at least one person in the house who knows how to work the digital TV.

In the meantime I have to keep my wits about me – I have children to outsmart.