What Happens When Kids Don't Have iPods

I resisted getting iPods for my children for as long as I could. I just hated seeing other peoples' kids with their faces looking down at the gadget in their hands. I hated how it isolated them from the real, live people sitting next to them. I hated the way it took them to a manufactured place; an imaginary place created by someone other than themselves. I remembered all the fun I had creating my own imaginary worlds with my Barbies and my sketchbook and I wanted them to have the satisfaction and fun of doing that. For years they did just that, with their dollhouse and legos and blocks.

Under pressure, I gave in. I'm sorry I did. They have hardly touched the dollhouse or the blocks or the legos since Christmas.

Then I saw the video below. It restored my convictions. I'll be showing it to my kids as soon as they get home from school. And then I'll put some limits on the iPod usage, because things like this don't happen when you are busy playing Angry Birds or Fruit Ninja or Words With Friends.

What the imagination can do: Caine's Arcade.