Is YouTube the end of parenting?
OK disclaimer nr 1: I have no children. Disclaimer nr 2: I fully expect to be flamed by my friends who do.
The little I know about parenting is obviously going to be flawed and biased, but that fits into the rest of the postings on this blog. One of the “kodak moments” of parenting seems to be when fathers or mothers teach there children grown up stuff. Some of the moments of greatest pride appear to be when the adult child calls home to ask banal questions such as how to balance a budget, check the oil or bake a cake.
But this is no longer the case. YouTube is flooded with simple instructional films. How to clean a toilet, How to shave your face, How to make burritos, How to tie a tie (or a bow tie), How to clean windows, and my favorite silly film How to make a bed (“to impress that special friend of yours”)…
Parents, can you see the writing on the wall? Why will your children ever call home again? So parents of the world unite, preserve your rightful place in the hierarchy and ban the threat. Parents Against YouTube (site coming soon near you).
Ok, if there is a parent present who has never used a dvd (or vhs for that matter) as a babysitter, please raise your hand….no hands? Thought so.
). Neither will I go on a crusade against YouTube for the “educational films” mentioned on this blog because like they say in Spanish, “no se pueden poner puertas al campo” – you cannot put doors on the countryside. There is no limit to the stuff the internet has to offer your kids, it´s up to you to try and control it. And unless you have actually told your kids to find the practical stuff they need to know about at YouTube I seriously doubt they will know it exists. You see, kids will not use fun sites like YouTube, a priori, to find out how to make a bed. They will do so in extremis, if they have nobody to ask. And even then, after almost 17 years of parenting, I seriously doubt they are interested enough in bed-making to log on the internet to do it. Unmaking it at some stage, for sure.
Yes I have ensured myself the occasional nap at weekends when my kids were tiny by sitting them in front of the tv/video/dvd. I have bribed them with candy and generally done all those things any parenting guide would warn you not to (and I say “would” because I have been too busy parenting to read any). I will not, however, be labeled as a bad parent because of this, for there is a huge difference between having the tv or computer actually DO the parenting and having a moment´s peace FROM parenting by sitting your offspring in front of the screen for an hour max (well an hour and a half, tops
So yes, I think it is the parents´ fault if their kids prefer a video at YouTube rather than asking them for stuff. But I will also confess that when yesterday my 10-year old daughter asked me for tips on choreography for a schooI performance I gladly suggested she look up some musical video clips on the internet. You see, I may sometimes let my hair down and dance to Shakira´s Hips Don´t Lie but I´d rather save her the embarrassment of seeing it…
That is a really nice comment (Katia) and I do agree with you. My daughter is only three, and starting with the “Why” questions now… sometimes you think it would be helpful to have something to save you all the explanations.There is Passepartout – a Quebec movie from the 1970s, which does the job at the moment. Between the songs etc. it characters show how to brush teeth, what the vegetables are (and they are good to eat!), what happens with trees and leaves when it is automn – all nice stuff. The thing is that sometimes they listen much more to “others”, rather than you to repeat all over again.
We cannot hide from the fact that Internet will replace our parents role one day and I am curious to see this. What is more important is to manage to keep the link with your child, so that it can come an ask you what she has on her mind, rather than to always turn to someone else (Internet included)… Internet should be a helpful tool, but not a primary source of info.
As for making the bed, baking a cake, cleaning the windows, I think she will khow much before she learns to type keywords in Google. Soon the issue will be more if she actually wants to do them at home
Ah, the attack of the mothers! Well I have no disagreement with you but I was thinking of older children as opposed to the technology as babysitter… but thanks for the image of you going crazy to Shakira…
Hehe it´s all in the hips….
So I have heard !