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Tag Archives: geeks

Geek IS the new Cool!

21 Wednesday Jan 2009

Posted by Jane Bretl in Motherhood

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commercialism, geeks, lego robotics, Marybeth Hicks, TV

Kids are awfully jaded these days.  I sense this goes beyond the proverbial “kids these days” motto of each generation — to some new warp speed warping of their little minds.  Maybe jaded is not quite the right word — just worldly beyond their years?

Case in point:  although we strictly limited the amount of TV that our kids could watch when they were young,  the Little One still  grew up too fast.  At three, he announced that “Sesame Street was for babies”.   (????)  We had shielded him from lots of mainstream kids’ TV programming to avoid all the commercialism and the sugary-cereal-seduction and the shows with annoying character traits. (Caillou, for example, was just a whiner.)  We didn’t want him watching many commercials aimed at kids at all, so we mostly watched PBS.  Being a pre-DVR baby, it took more effort.

Of course, it happened anyway.

Looking back, I’m sure our family’s frequent marathons of watching professional sports had something to do with his speedy media maturation.  There’s nothing like a non-stop feed of erectile dysfunction commercials to broaden a kid’s horizon.  But as I think of all four of us snuggled together, cheering on the Packers, I’m not sure what I would have done differently.

Author Marybeth Hicks has a great book, “Bringing Up Geeks:  Genuine, Enthusiastic, Empowered Kids”.  She talks about how the media is really the “other parent” in our kids’ lives, because it has so much influence on how they grow up.  Check out her website in the Links section.

G.E.E.K. is the new Cool — the concept strikes a cord with kids.  Our Lego Robotics team adopted the phrase as their team slogan!

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Bumper cars

14 Wednesday Jan 2009

Posted by Jane Bretl in Motherhood

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

football, friends, geeks, Obama, suburbia

I recently heard a comedian riff on bumper stickers as a handy shortcut to life — when he saw one, he automatically knew not to be friends with the driver.

My husband views my new-found bumper sticker interest as a phase, a possible symptom of mid-life crisis that will hopefully pass in less time than it takes to remove the adhesive already applied.

Me, I just looked at my tan minivan one day (Sandtone), youth football team stickers in the windows (not that there is anything wrong with that), bumper scraped from hasty parking jobs, and thought about what I drive as reflection of who I am.

Ouch.

I was also swept up in the fervor of the election and wanted to make a statement.  The minivan remains non-negotiable, no matter how much I want something little and zippy.  So forthwith the Obamamobile was born.

I have lots more bumper stickers to apply, when the time is right.  “Please Lord, let me be the person my dog thinks I am”.   “Coexist”.   “Alternative Energy is Homeland Security”.  “Geek Is The New Cool”.

Funny, my husband doesn’t drive the van much anymore.

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jane, candid

In 2009, I started this blog to share my sometimes thoughtful, sometimes funny, occasionally irreverent thoughts on motherhood, writing for publication and myriad creatures that got along as cats and dogs.

One day, I felt like stepping away from living out loud for awhile. Eh, life happens.

Fast forward five years -- I'll gloss over the details for now -- save to say that lucky for me an unexpected detour has provided some new material.

So here I am, standing at the corner. I've been here before, wondering which way to go. This time I choose living.

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