Technology is definitely creeping into our house and our parenting. I left the kids playing games on Hightlightskids.com this morning while I took a shower. Gone are the days of the 20 minute Between the Lions. When I came down I found Lex playing on the computer (where I left them) and Eve on the tablet! What did I do… grab my laptop for a blog post! Happy snow day! :)

They’ve got the computer and the tablet going at the same time.

This morning I had to explain to the kids what a disposable camera is (was?), which led to an explanation of film. Eve couldn’t understand why the character (in the scary Magic Kitten book we were reading) couldn’t just review the pictures on the camera.

Times, they are a changin’!

However, to illustrate their innocence still… The PE teacher at school has Dance Dance Revolution that the kids get to play sometimes. This week he had it set up all week and each class got to play. Lex loves it! All week the kids have been talking about it. During one conversation he told me that some of the kids are really good and I explained that it’s a video game you can buy and that many of the kids probably own it and practice at home. How would you expect a child to reply to that statement? Typically with “can we buy it?” or something similar. Lex, however, gets a thoughtful look on his face and says, “I wonder if I could make Dance Dance Revolution at home, with some paper.”

Here’s an unrelated picture. They’re still sweet, even with the technology creep.

A treat from Panera Bread. Eve insisted on a photo before eating the cookie. (that’s black bean soup on her face, not dirt, btw!)

My kids used to be pretty good at cleaning up. We used to have a “one toy at a time rule” that they mostly followed. These days though, not so much! Now the games are more complex and involve many more toys. Now they create experiences and haunted houses which dominate entire rooms. The creativity is great, but the mess isn’t. I’ve been trying to figure out how to handle cleanup for awhile now. Once they create a big “thing” they don’t want to take it down immediately, but over the course of a few days it gets forgotten and ends up just a mess.

However, it wasn’t until they recently started dropping toys on the floor and walking away that I took action. I couldn’t believe the day I saw Lex just drop a toy in the middle of the floor and walk away to do something else. No effort made to even put it on a table or something. After seeing that a few times, I built the Toy Jail. (thanks to Pinterest or the blogosphere or somewhere for the idea!)

Toy Jail, tucked under the donation box!

The first morning it was there they whined and complained about it. The next few mornings, when there were toys in it, they got worried and paid the fine immediately. The past few days it has taken them a few days before paying up. The toys you see here were put in last night. This morning Eve said, “Oh no!” Lex said, “Why are those toys in there?” Eve said, “We didn’t clean them up last night.” Then they went on a played with something else. They get 30 days to pay the fine, toys not “bailed out” get moved to the donation box and there’s not escape from there!