YouTube – Urban Suburban Mommy

Three things my children make fun of me for

Posted on October 16, 2017 by Urban Suburban Mommy Posted in The Struggle is Real .

I don’t know about you, but my boys have gotten to the age where they’re starting to tease me. They’ve got wit, they’ve got a sense of humour and they’ve got some nerve…

I remember saying these types of things to my mom when I was a kid.

I also remember the look on her face. It was probably the same look I had on my face when my kids asked me about my experience growing up with dinosaurs. And my mom had me young – she was 23 and a mom, barely 25 with her second. Having kids at 37 and 39, I have some serious years on her! I’m not sure though, if my kids perceive me as old because I’m a 40-something mom, or if all kids are just brutes when it comes to comprehending their parents’ generation. Regardless, my kids love teasing me about being old (because they know they’ve hit a nerve/have some material to work with) and they’re merciless. My husband has a blast joining in.

1. Mom, your hair is so grey.

Just the other day, my younger son told us that when he grows up he’s going to be rich so that he can buy dad a solid gold mansion. “What’s he going to buy for mom?” you ask? HAIR DYE. Dad gets a solid gold mansion and I get hair dye so that I won’t have to look old.

2. Mom isn’t cool enough to speak the lingo.

Last week my son told me they were watching Yubes.

Yah, I asked.

Turns out that’s what kids are calling YouTube. I’m so old I don’t know the lingo. I keep catching myself saying I taped that – I tape nothing. I record. I’m having problems moving on from VHS in my own mind, apparently. My kids think it’s funny – not in that “laughing with you” funny. They’re definitely laughing at me.

3. Mom, did you ever have a pet dinosaur?

This one cuts deep, since I remember asking my mom questions along the same line – I also asked my mom if she wore ball gowns (you know, because she was old enough to grow up in the Victorian era); if they had suits of armour when she was small (because she must have been around in the middle ages); and if the world was in black and white when she was a kid (I didn’t quite understand that colour TV was because of technology developments, I thought actual colour was a recent invention in the early 70s.). My poor mom. I was a mean kid – however unintentionally.

Unpacking unboxing: A YouTube phenomenon

Posted on April 6, 2017 by Alexis Nicols Posted in Mommy Approved .

My kids are obsessed with YouTube Kids. That’s nothing new. Personally, I’m happy to buy a few extra minutes to eat food while it’s hot, do some laundry or answer a quick email. I’m vigilant about what they watch, and often watch videos with them (just because the app has “Kids” after it doesn’t mean it’s entirely kid-friendly, especially when your boys are collectively younger than a grade-schooler.)

Their latest obsession isn’t episodes of Paw Patrol or mini movies featuring the Minions. It’s videos of adults unpacking toys and playing with them. After conducting some research, I discovered that this phenomenon – referred to as “unboxing” – isn’t new. And if my kids are totally into it, then chances are yours are too.

https://youtu.be/Nflx3iRifEE

Borrowed from the adult version of unpacking new tech items such as iPhones or computers, “unboxing” videos feature adult voices, usually female and unnaturally enthusiastic, guiding viewers through components of unpackaged toys. Sometimes there’s just music, but my kids favour a fully guided tour. Often, the toys are arranged with time-lapse (stop motion) into a fully developed, if poorly scripted, plotline.

Theories abound as to why unboxing has become so wildly popular (The Google search term “unboxing” has increased 871% since 2010*) I’m not a psychologist and won’t overwhelm you with theories of the mind philosophy or cognitive development. I’m here to tell you that unboxing is weird, but it won’t mess up your kid.

It will all be ok, even if you don’t see any obvious value in it.

There’s a pejorative view of technology and its impact on childhood development, but I’m betting it doesn’t come from the 80% of parents who give their device to their children between the ages of 0-2**. The scape and scope of play is changing, but that doesn’t mean it’s all passive entertainment turning tiny, developing minds into mush. For me, there’s little difference between watching these videos with my kids (while they interpret and explain what’s happening) and reading them their favourite book 500 times.

Unboxing is exploratory and feeds into their innate desire to know what stuff is, how it works and what’s hidden inside. They’re no less inclined to explore their world just because there’s someone on YouTube doing it for them. For proof I offer my son Nate who, just yesterday, was very busy using my sunglasses to crack open a walnut to see what was inside.

At the end of the day, is there really any difference between watching a video of someone creating a play-based narrative and watching commercials specifically inserted between Saturday morning cartoons to hawk directed play? When I was a kid, we had Strawberry Shortcake, Barbie, Care Bears, and a whole host of other playtime friends. The implicit promise was the more characters and/or accessories you purchased, the more vivid your playtime experience would be.

My kids know the difference between “playing” and “watching”, and there’s no indication from either of them they’re going to give up playing with their own toys any time soon. Watching a video of a woman playing with a Peppa Pig “Mashem” isn’t going to hinder their ability to learn, create and play.

*cnn.com

** StreamCon, NYC, November 2015.

The scary part of Halloween? Making the costume!

Posted on October 18, 2016 by Alexis Nicols Posted in The Struggle is Real .

“I need a cardboard box big enough to fit a four year-old.”

Don’t we all? That line has earned me my share of raised eyebrows this week.

I’ve been dreading Halloween this year. Over the summer, my precocious Nathan saw the Disney movie Wall•E.

photo: Fabian Vervelde

Five hundred times. On repeat.

He can recite the entire script by heart. So can I. The animated feature chronicles the life of a small trash-collecting robot who, over the course of 700 years and a syrupy Disney script, becomes a sentient being. It was 90 minutes of my son’s favourite things: trash, trash compactors, robots, guns and trash compacting robots with guns.

Last month, when we were eagerly discussing Halloween (or as I call it – send your kids to work day), I asked him what he wanted to be.

Wall•E. He wants to be the robot. Crap.

I realize I’ve been lucky enough to coast by over the past three Halloweens. The first year, Nate wanted nothing to do with the freaky ghosts and vampires that came knocking at our door. He hid behind me the whole time, screaming.

The next year, he wanted to be a fireman, but only went out for 20 minutes before collapsing with exhaustion. Last year he was a fireman again, and finally made the connection between the length of time spent outdoors and the size of his stash.

It was a good year.

So now Halloween is two weeks away and he has asked his Mama, a walking craft-phobic Pinterest Fail, to make him a robot costume. I am to arts and crafts what Trump is to temperament. Foreign and awkward.

This is what Wall•E looks like:

I spent the first week of October paralyzed, unable to draft a simple plan. I knew I should have studied to be an Imagineer.

Pinterest offerings

Finally, with Halloween fast approaching, I’ve been galvanized into action – collecting supplies, anything I can get my hands on, praying that I have enough paint to hide a multitude of mistakes.

I’ve watched YouTube videos, dissected pictures on Pinterest (damn you Pinterest), even checked online to make sure there wasn’t a Wall•E costume available (There isn’t. Unless you want to be a slutty Wall•E.)

As I get underway, I ask that you wish me luck.

Also, do you have a reciprocal saw I can borrow?