GO TELL MOM s2e9 Parenting Essentials
I grew up with a supermom. Or at least it seemed like it at the time. Mom could do anything – sew our school clothes, shovel the walks, clean the house, plant tomatoes, rake the yard, cook breakfast, lunch and dinner, haul us to appointments. But she did need her gadgets…and fixing them was Dad’s job.
Dad liked gadgets. He bought Heathkits and old wooden consoles and built new TVs. When a friend replaced a perfectly-operating built-in stove with something state-of-the-art, Dad replaced our much-less-modern version with it and built the cabinetry. Of course, there were times when Dad-to-the-rescue meant waiting three weeks for the washer to be repaired, but on the whole, he was a good fixer-upper.
Mom appreciated having appliances that worked. And she got a kick out of Dad digging up new gadgets at flea markets…which is how we would up with a Dutch oven, a wok, a steam cleaner and a hand-held vacuum. Mom was a demon on dust bunnies.
I honestly can’t imagine NOT having a vacuum cleaner these days…especially since I have two furbabies. Between them and my kids, much dust and leaf remains trot across my floor, and the vacuum is a huge blessing. Although, the dogs would disagree. One thing I insisted on whenever we moved somewhere new – and we did that a lot – was a dishwasher. Didn’t matter if it was fancy or not – we needed to have one! One of the gadgets Dad dug up when I was in middle school was a dishwasher, and I personally was thrilled, since I was the dishwasher up til then. And I hated it. Hence the demand for a dishwasher as an adult.
One gadget my mother loved but I avoid is the iron. I was one of the few kids in high school who actually had creases in my jeans. I didn’t care one way or the other, but Mom did. She made sure she packed me off to college with an iron…which I would use when I was packing to go back home.
She also had one of those hair dryers that was a hood you’d place over your curlers and let your hair dry quickly…and it had a spinning pumice stone to file your nails while you were doing it. Yeah…another Dad-found gadget.
A lot of other gadgets have popped up over the years…microwave ovens…Swiffers…cleaning wipes…coffee makers…electric kettles…all aimed at making life easier for parents.
Buzzfeed pointed to some of the kid-oriented ones, like a pack of stick-on fever indicators that'll let you monitor your child's fever for up to 48 hours simply by looking at the bug sticker on their forehead. They change color to indicate temp. Then there’s stick-on placemats to not only thwart your toddler's Thor-like attempts to toss everything on the floor but also keep their food off germy restaurant tables.
Parents tend to buy tech for their kids a LOT…and Asurion.com says it’s because of how it makes them feel…not because of new-fangled features or functionality. Their latest survey shows 44 percent of parents buy tech for entertainment and fun…while 29 percent do so because the gadgets are “cool, new and exciting.” Ironically, more than half of parents say they don’t feel comfortable with tech.
Now personally, I’m getting braver about checking out YouTube answers to my “what does this do?” problems. As long as my gadget doesn’t fry, I’m willing to see what I can do to get the most out of it. Mom – and Dad – would be proud.
Now let’s get a perspective from my friend, fellow educator, and gadget queen – Sheri Waltz.