Life With a First Grader

Sometimes I am given vivid reminders of how in some respects the technology my parents and I grew up with is far more similar than that of my children and I.

Here are snippets from a recent conversation with the young lord of the manor.

Son: Dad, did you go to school?
Jack: What do you think?

Son: Grandpa said that you did.
Jack: Grandpa is right.

Son: You lived with grandpa and grandma?
Jack: I did. You have seen the room that I grew up in.

Son: Did it always have a television in it?
Jack: Nope.

Son: What about a computer. You had a computer didn’t you. What kind was it?
Jack: I didn’t have a computer.

Son: How did you work?
Jack: With a pencil and paper.

Son: I get it. Grandpa had the computer.
Jack: No. We didn’t get a computer until I was much older than you are now.

Son: How did grandpa work?
Jack: With a pen and paper.

Son: He didn’t type?
Jack: No, he did. He used a Smith-Corona typewriter. For a while I did too.

Son: Were you poor?
Jack: No, people didn’t have home computers.

Son: What about your phone. Did you check your email on your phone?
Jack: No. We didn’t have cell phones.

Son: So you were poor.
Jack: No. People didn’t have cell phones then.

Son:What about shoes? Did people have shoes then?
Jack: Yes. We had shoes. I always bought the pair that made me run fast.

Son: Hey! I do that too. We match.
Jack: We do.

Son: Dad?
Jack: Yes.

Son: I still think that grandpa should have bought you a computer. That wasn’t nice.
Jack: He was nice, but when I was your age they didn’t make computers for people to use at home.

Son: Are you sure that you remember? You are kind of old.
Jack: Thanks, I appreciate that. Yes, I remember. We definitely did not have a computer.

Son: That must have been hard for you because you love the computer.
Jack: Nope. Since I had never used one I didn’t miss it. We’ll talk about this later. Get some sleep.

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8 Comments

  1. come running September 16, 2007 at 12:51 pm

    fast shoes are the only ones will buy even now.

    At least your son thought that you computers were around when you were younger…

    “Mom, when you were younger when they didn’t have cars…”

  2. Jack's Shack September 15, 2007 at 1:23 am

    David,

    You said it.

    Shoshana,

    I had fast shoes.

    Sweet,

    His grandfather has stories like that, but most of time he grew up in LA.

    BWH,

    I can only imagine what life will be like when the kids get to be teenagers.

    ABB,

    We sure did. 😉

    GS,

    Thanks.

  3. Guilty Secret September 13, 2007 at 12:23 pm

    Aw, that is one cute, funny conversation 🙂

  4. ablondeblogger September 13, 2007 at 7:13 am

    LOL! The things kids take for granted! We had it rough, didn’t we? LOL

  5. bigwhitehat September 13, 2007 at 5:26 am

    Mine are often difficult.

    “You didn’t wear a helmet. Why should I?”

    “Grandma told me you got in fights all the time.”

    And of course, life would not be the same if the 16 year old did not say, “Dad, I have boy problems.”

  6. Sweettooth120 September 13, 2007 at 3:27 am

    aw…how cute. Yes, good thing you did have shoes.

    I suppose his grandpa had to walk to school for miles in the snow WITHOUT shoes. : )

  7. Shoshana September 12, 2007 at 4:53 pm

    well, at least you had shoes. that’s something.

  8. david hayes September 12, 2007 at 4:22 pm

    …the times we live in.

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