Frolicking ~ Nick Verron
With the unconscious wisdom of youth, my son decided that he would give me a games console. It is not, perhaps, the obvious gift for a woman about to enter her seventh decade, but then, he assures me that as I am a ‘tweenager’, it is entirely appropriate.
When the boys were young we always made sure they were up to date with the growing technological revolution. From the blocky arcade games of the ancient Atari to our first home computer, they soon became confident with consoles and keyboards and we played as a family, working out the puzzles, learning how to share, to be patient and to persevere in the days when games took ages to load and progress could not be saved.
Spatial awareness, hand-eye coordination, foresight, reaction times and logic were all well-served, Games that now look primitive were often complex and demanding and to complete them was a real triumph. We have fond memories of those times. The software available for the Commodore 64 and the old Sinclair Spectrum even allowed you, with a little vary basic knowledge, to build your own games. Such violence as there was tended to be of the ‘Tom and Jerry’ variety, with little or no relation to reality and gameplay was often as much of an intellectual challenge as a test of manual dexterity. We hoped that introducing the boys to technology early would stand them in good stead in later years and that has indeed proved to be the case.
I am decades behind the times where technology is concerned these days. Modern consoles do more than play games, it seems, allowing you to access your PC, play music and films and do much of what I now do at the computer from the comfort of the sofa, which can only be a good thing… as long as the dog lets me share. All the skills that early gaming honed for the boys are ones that need to be maintained in later years… and oddly enough, I kept the best of the old games. So, in an unexpected role reversal, my son is giving his tweenage mother a games console for her birthday.
I rather like the idea of entering my tweenage years. The term is usually applied to prepubescent children, but works equally well for those in the nameless limbo between later decades. It sounds better than ‘dotage’ or ‘incipient old-age’, and my son has been accusing me of regressing for quite a while now. I like that idea too; the old saying that ‘youth is wasted on the young’ should really be embraced by those on the threshold of a second childhood. Why should we wait until others apply that term to us in a derogatory manner, when we can throw ourselves into our second childhood head first and enjoy it?
Continue reading at The Silent Eye
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
Happy birthday… Have fun!
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Thanks, Tori. It isn’t till next week…and I’ll be away on the next Silent Eye workshop at the time 🙂
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Aw Sue!
My 72 year old Pops has just been gifted his first iPad! A Big step for him!!
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I haven’t tried a tablet yet… I like my dinosaur of a compter, and to befair, my phone is big enough 😉
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Pops won’t touch a computer lol!
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You’d have to cut my arms off to get mine away from me 🙂
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He’s like that with his phone and WhatsApp!
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I can understand that … but the phone and I leave each other in peace as much as possible. WhatsApp I have on the PC though 🙂
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Aaaah! I didn’t know you could use WhatsApp on the pc!
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Oh you can… which means I can save all the photos of my granddaughters dead easy 😉
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Sounds perfect! I’ll need to look into that…!
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🙂
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Go for it! Why not?
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I intend to 🙂
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Happy Birthday and Congratulations on being a recycled teenager!
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Thank, Pam. The birthday isn’t till next week… but no point in waiting to enjoy 🙂
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What a fun and thoughtful gift!
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I thought so too 🙂
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The older I get the more I embrace these kinds of freedoms. 🙂 … have fun! 😀
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And why not indeed 😀
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Happy Birthday week – celebrate every day! 🙂
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Thanks, Eliza…. that would be nice 🙂
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Go for it!
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I will 🙂
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That’s an awesome perspective. I’m loving the positivity of this post!
Cheers
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Thanks, Jacob 😀
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