Gadget Wars

My teenager recently got the latest iPad, a gift from my mother for being so helpful these past months with the baby and at the farm.

Well, that and she would give him the moon if she could.

I'm the one with the professional need for such a gadget, but there he sits with it, on the toilet, playing chess. It's among the least damaging ironies in my life right now, so I'm mostly OK with it.

However, we've already had a fight about it. Well, not really a fight. I do not fight with my children. I say something, the kid has about two or three sentences in which to make any kind of viable point, and then I end the conversation with either acquiescence (rarely) or an imperative (usually). If there is attitude in there from one who has come out of my womb, there is often an elevated consequence.

I didn't know he had done it the first day, but the second day I caught Gabe trying to take his new iPad to school. He claimed he used it for his assignment book. I know for certain that he used it to play chess, watch stupid videos on YouTube, and generally dork around with his friends.

The assignment book is a sore subject. Gabe has slipping grades only because he cannot keep track of his homework assignments and turn in completed homework on time. It's been a struggle his entire school career.

If I were convinced that an electronic device that cost hundreds of dollars would inspire him to do the simple task of noting when his homework assignments were due, I would have bought one for him years ago. I am not convinced.

I'm also not prepared to replace it if he loses it or it gets stolen. He once borrowed my husband's scientific calculator because he had misplaced his own, and then managed to misplace the loaner. Not a great day.

Complaints that "other kids" bring their iPads to school fall on my deaf ears. Perhaps these kids have shown an immense level of responsibility. Perhaps their parents aren't even aware of what they do. Perhaps I don't want my children to get caught up in the horror of status symbols.

I understand the great value in students learning with the kinds of technology that they will use in their advanced education or employment. As a high school sophomore, Gabe can practice his iPad swiping here at home. He has several other semesters during which to demonstrate to his mother that he is the kind of student who needs to carry around such a tool during his school day.

But he is the kind of kid who handles an adult-level of work and family obligations. I think I will take him out to dinner.

He can even bring his iPad.