Wednesday, October 21, 2009

So when my son was here last week, he asked me to assist him in setting up his own email account. Prior to that, I would send him emails, and then his mother or stepfather would communicate the message to him that way. It was less than ideal, but we made it work for awhile. I pushed both his mother and stepfather to allow Carlton more access to the computer, since kids his age and younger are doing that all around the world, but they didn't share my sense of urgency. But the very fact that he asked me to help him in that department last week means that he knows how important it is too. Hopefully they are monitoring his computer usage, so he doesn't roll up on the same adult sites that I frequent early in the morning or when I'm home alone.

Anyway, my son now has a gmail account, and its been mutually beneficial. When he was here, I had him read Washington Post articles, then write me summaries and he'd send them via email. Once he left I sent him some pictures via email, and he thanked me for them in a return email. If you're familiar with gmail, you know that once you trade emails with someone more than twice, they're names appear in your contacts. This means that you know they when they online (except if they are invisible). Last night, while I was waiting for an email from Jay Williams (we call that name dropping in the business), I noticed that my son was online. Immediately I wanted start chatting with him via gchat, but I used restraint, and I decided to wait and see if he'd reach out to his old man first. I had showed him how to use the gchat function while he was here, so I was hoping he'd put it to use. At the very least, if he didn't use the gchat function, maybe he'd at least return the email I had sent to him yesterday. But he didn't.

This son of mine stayed online doing god know what, for about 15 minutes then he logged off without saying hello or returning my email. In my mind, I tried to rationalize his ungrateful behavior by saying that he probably was asked to get off the computer prematurely, but that was a flimsy excuse given he was on there for 15 minutes. I was hurt (not really), but I won't throw a fit over it. He's getting dangerously close that age when parents are not cool, so there's a time for me to be aggressive in trying to talk, and a time to pull back. I just wish it wasn't so in my face last night..damn this technology

Eric B and Rakim - What's On Your Mind?

2 comments:

nichole said...

he might've been chatting with a girl. or he might not have been online by himself. maybe his mom or stepdad were monitoring his email.

soft and subtle said...

That was sooooo funny....lol Awe, don't feel too bad; he's just a kid. But I would've got into my feelings too.