There is so much going on in my neck of the woods and I just got home from work, so my brain is sort of on first gear, right now.

SSG Dizzy will hopefully be home on the 20th (only to return on the 7th of June, or so). Plus, the Libertarian National Convention is next weekend (for those who don’t know, I am giving a big speech at the convention). So, this week was making reservations at a hotel so that my husband and I can have a conjugal visit that will not be inadvertently interrupted by a couple of nosy little (adorable) kids. And, I have ironed out my speech and got my clothes ready to be packed for the big weekend.

But, this post isn’t really about any of that. It’s about my kids and modern technology and the old-school way of doing simple things.

As a home-school parent, every year, like most professional teachers, I set a lesson plan from which I guide myself in how and what to teach my children. This year, the plan was to teach them, more comprehensively, how to read and write. I started in August and by January, it was mission accomplished.

Now, both the children (aged 8 and 6), know how to read, but my son, who is mathematically inclined (he’ll be doing the family taxes, in no time), he is not keen on writing. My daughter, on the other hand not only is an avid reader, but she is also enjoys writing.

She has this adorable, yet sometimes annoying habit of writing notes that express how she feels. Instead of having a tantrum, she writes me little notes about how unhappy she is with a particular Mom Rule. Sometimes, she plays mediator for her older brother, slipping notes under my door.

Lately, she’s taken to writing what I affectionately call “text messages”. Of course, she’s only 6, so it’s completely old-school. What’s funny is that she only uses as much paper as she needs to write her little messages, tearing the corners off of larger pieces of paper. Sometimes they include pictures.

Tonight, I came home from work and found a text message on my bedroom door (she has now figured out how to MAKE SURE I get her little notes…closing the door ON the note). Tonight’s text message was not just a note but a directive: “Buy A Spider-Man Game” and every word was underlined (you can’t do THAT with a digital text message). After I had a good laugh, the first thing I thought of was, “Man, I wish she didn’t know how to write…”

The next thing I thought about was how glad I am that she is only 6. Ten years from now, I will have to send her a digital text that says something like “U R GRNDED” and she will reply, “I H8 U”. So, right about now, I’m glad she’s still 6 and writing me real text messages that I can save in my memory box.

Things are bad enough in the world, it’s a relief to find something lighter to focus on.

Namaste.

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