Intrusions
For a long time we have had three computers in our house. Howard has his computer. I have my computer. The kids have their computer. We have a wireless network to allow all of these machines access to the internet. All was well until one of the kids cranked the wireless antenna off the kidputer to use it for a sword. The antenna was not re-attachable.
Until recently this was only a minor problem because most of what the kids do doesn’t require connectivity. Then came Neopets. We got piles of neopet cards from our tour of Wizards of the Coast. Kiki quickly realized that there is a neopet.com and she begged to try it out. I picked a good time and let her have my computer for awhile. Now she has it for “awhile” every single day. She has also been exploring worldofdeltora.com. Not to be left out, Gleek has spent some time on Mylittlepony.com and barbie.com.
All the internet activites meant that my computer was frequently in use when I wanted to write or just surf for awhile. The introduction of my Thinkpad has solved the writing problem. I don’t really need to surf, I just want to. So peace returned. I could let the kids use my computer in the basement while I typed upstairs in the sunshine.
This evening I discovered Kiki sitting with my Thinkpad in her lap. She was reading one of my stories. I don’t object to her reading my stories, but she’d picked up my computer and poked around on it without asking permission. She had intruded into my space. I explained to her why I was upset. She nodded like she understood and then launched into a campaign for me to allow her to write stories using my Thinkpad.
I was and am torn. I love that Kiki wants to write stories. I understand her predicament of having things swirling in her brain that she wants to get out. But if I let her use my Thinkpad, she will slowly take it over. I love that I can just walk over, flip it open and write. Walking over and kicking someone else off is not the same experience at all. There would be times where I’ll kick her off without a problem. There would be other times where I’d go without writing so that she could write.
I am on call, all day, every day. My kids play with every thing from my pillow to my clothes to my hair. They firmly believe that everything I own is available to them. Is it so selfish that I want to keep one little laptop to myself? I don’t want to share. I don’t want it dinged, dropped, or broken. I don’t want kids moving my files around or accidentally erasing things. I want it to be always available for me.
When I get a new laptop, one with wireless capability, then Kiki can have this old Thinkpad for writing her stories or essays or whatever. Until then she’ll just have to make do with the kidputer or paper-and-pen.