You know it's funny. As a kid I'll never forget when my Mom and Dad would yell at Stryder and me to "get off that damn Nintendo and go outside!" or "Nope, you're going to do something other than Nintendo for a little while..." and then we'd play with something else, ride our bikes, do whatever. And we were boys, so we were outside all the time, had an above-ground pool in our backyard, so being outside was rarely a problem, I'm sure it was just the hours of sitting in front of a TV with the glazed eyes.... Anyway, it always bothered me that my parents would STOP us from playing the one thing we loved to play so much, and I vowed that once I became a parent I would NEVER stop my kids from doing what they want to do.

Well fast forward 20-some years and I am already at the point where I monitor my kid's "screen time". We play games, toys, Barbies, imagination, LEGO, coloring, dress up, crafts, etc. And without fail, every time we finish one activity and move on to the next, one or both of my kids will say "Daddy, can we play on the iPad?" And this isn't just stuff like Angry Birds (although they love it and already at 3 and 5 years old they both know the importance of and can get 3 stars...), these are decent, educational games. I'm amazed at the comfort that my daughters have with this technology, and marvel at what they will be like in 5, 10, 15 years...and even more, what their kids are going to be using.

It's incredible...and yet I still say "No you can't play with the iPad!" so much it makes me laugh.