Victorian Parenting

Now as you all know (unless this is the first time you have ever heard of me, and you just stumbled across this blog, in which case , welcome and catch up) that I am a lover of the Twitter. I adore technology that allows me to talk to a whole host of fascinating and often clever, usually witty, people where ever I go. 

I love the Wii and enjoy a round of virtual golf as much as the next man, I have a Humax digital recorder box thingy and generally like technology BUT I am also of the old ' don't buy new til the old breaks' school of thought. So we do not own a flat screen TV, we do not have a laptop, and our PC is over 10 years old (and yes it barely functions...), I have pushed the boat out recently and bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab - mainly because my old phone was...well, really old.

With that in mind, we also have a 12 year old daughter, keen to keep up with her friends, she has a mobile phone (LG Cookie, not some vastly expensive Apple thing, and she saved up and bought it herself) she has a DS (just the basic DS Lite - not 3d or anything, and again, she saved and bought it) she has a Tablet computer (very amazingly cheap from Amazon, a Birthday gift) and of course she watches TV and has access to the PC (where she blogs) and plays on the Wii

So...decisions,  modern parenting or trapped in the dark ages? My DH and I feel that access to digital 'stuff' without control is not great for the growing brain or for a fully functioning social life (yes yes twitter friends I do see the irony here) so we restrict her 'viewing'. (she had no access to TV at all before the age of two, but had a mobile phone at 8!)

Lately the rules have been defined as: 

Weekdays - nothing before school, 1hr after school (to include any of the electrical 'stuff' including TV) and a further half hour when I get in from work in case I fancy a golf partner :-)

At Weekends - nothing before 10am, then an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon, and any 'family' Wii or TV time as the evening dictates.

Do you have a digital dilemma? Do you own loads of gadgets? Do you restrict your children or yourself? Do you have any 'electrical free' family time? (we like to make time for board games like Scrabble, ConnectFour, and Chess and card games like Uno or 21)

Am I a Victorian parent? Is technology part of life now and I shouldn't care? Or is the mental development of a child a responsibility that needs some restrictions to ensure a balanced outlook? (Much as I don't let DD live on chocolate biscuits and honey)

I would love your thoughts and comments - either agreeing or disagreeing with my thoughts! Do please stop and tell me what you think, and let me know: do you have children? What are their ages? Do you restrict their access to technology? If so why?  Have your ideas altered over time ? Thanks

Seven ways to empower women and girls this International Women's Day from World Vision

World Vision - Seven ways to empower women and girls this International Women's Day

Some Great Ideas here. And the simplest?

" Empowering women starts right in our families, workplaces, and neighborhoods. Celebrate this International Women’s Day by writing a note of thanks to that teacher who encouraged you years ago, picking up coffee for that new mom in your office who’s struggling to balance it all, or telling your own sister, daughter, or mother how much you appreciate them."



Have a great day, today and every day.

An Award - and I cheat a bit (a lot)

I don't know where this award originated but it's been travelling around for at least a few months, I've tracked it back as far as 2010!

I would like to thank Toxic Vegan for giving me the award. The Toxic vegan is not a blog I've read before, but I shall be taking a peek at the recipes for some of my meat free days. So a double thanks.

The rules for the award are:

1) Thank the person who nominated me and link back to them in my post.

2) Share 7 things about myself

3) Pass the award on to 15 more bloggers that I enjoy

4) Contact the bloggers I have chosen to let them know that they have been selected!

I'm going to cheat with number 2 becasue I just did that in my 7x7x7x7 post, so you'll have to read them there instead.

Pass on the award...wowsers. Not sure I even follow 15 blogs!

But once again I'll cheat, take a look to the left...ok you looking? There is a blog roll of awesome blogs I adore. Go on take a look, some of them are so good that they make the internet sparkle.

so 8th thing about me.....I cheat a lot