A recent survey notes that more than half of older Americans now use their smartphones to access health information, comparison shop, and make financial transactions. I use my phone to play cartoons for my grandkids. Not every day! But in an “emergency,” my phone comes in pretty handy.
One such emergency unfolded just last week on the way home from a trip to the zoo. My son-in-law was driving. Leo (3) and Ava (1) were happily listening to BBMak’s “Back Here.” My daughter was away on a business trip and I was riding shotgun when we become entangled in a nightmarish traffic jam. “Estimated time in traffic: 20 minutes,” warned the GPS, ominously. And, as if on cue, Leo melted down and begged for his snack bag—which was packed away in the diaper bag in the trunk.
Soon enough, Ava was crying, too. So I pulled up Bad Dinosaurs on my phone and handed it to Leo. All was quiet in the back seat as he settled in to watch his show. Disaster averted!
Another smartphone-to-the-rescue operation occurred when I was with one-year-old Ollie at urgent care for croup. With a wait of over two hours for a nebulizer treatment, I thanked CoComelon for saving the day.
Of course, using an animated TV show to avoid meltdowns can be tricky for those of us who are tech-challenged—as evidenced during a recent babysitting evening. My daughter had set up a bedtime strategy that went like this: Leo would watch a show (with the lights off) on my daughter’s new iPad in Ava’s room while I gave Ava her bottle in the rocking chair. The only hitch is that I’m not familiar with iPads.
Thankfully, my daughter had left a little handprinted card with instructions for me:
“To turn on the tablet: hit small button on top right, tap and slide up on screen, enter the password, (which she provided) and Netflix will open.”
Sounded simple enough… until I saw the Netflix icon on the iPad. It was the size of a postage stamp. I had no idea how to enlarge it, and turned around to ask my phone for instructions, then went back to the iPad. In the meantime, Ava had started toying around on my phone and clicked so many random numbers that my phone was disabled. “iPhone unavailable” was the chilly message flashing on my screen each time I tried to put in my password.
I paced up and down the room holding Ava and trying unsuccessfully to get into my phone. Still locked out.
I took a quick look around to see if maybe my daughter still had a house phone—in the unlikely event I would need to make a call in the next five minutes. There was no sign of one… anywhere. I returned to Ava’s room to see Leo happily stretched out on the daybed, watching Peppa Pig on a full screen iPad. He had figured it out himself. Who needs Grandma for technical issues!
My phone finally became “available” again, but there was no one I needed to call. I switched off all the lights and sat rocking Ava while the muffled sounds of Peppa Pig drifted across the room. I put Ava in her crib and joined Leo for the last five minutes of the video. It was much more fun than comparison shopping!
Rosemary Black, a mom of seven and a resident of Pleasantville, NY, writes frequently on health, nutrition, parenting, and food. She is the author of six cookbooks, most recently, The Marley Coffee Cookbook.
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30 Aug 2024
0 Commentscocomelon to the rescue
A recent survey notes that more than half of older Americans now use their smartphones to access health information, comparison shop, and make financial transactions. I use my phone to play cartoons for my grandkids. Not every day! But in an “emergency,” my phone comes in pretty handy.
One such emergency unfolded just last week on the way home from a trip to the zoo. My son-in-law was driving. Leo (3) and Ava (1) were happily listening to BBMak’s “Back Here.” My daughter was away on a business trip and I was riding shotgun when we become entangled in a nightmarish traffic jam. “Estimated time in traffic: 20 minutes,” warned the GPS, ominously. And, as if on cue, Leo melted down and begged for his snack bag—which was packed away in the diaper bag in the trunk.
Soon enough, Ava was crying, too. So I pulled up Bad Dinosaurs on my phone and handed it to Leo. All was quiet in the back seat as he settled in to watch his show. Disaster averted!
Another smartphone-to-the-rescue operation occurred when I was with one-year-old Ollie at urgent care for croup. With a wait of over two hours for a nebulizer treatment, I thanked CoComelon for saving the day.
Of course, using an animated TV show to avoid meltdowns can be tricky for those of us who are tech-challenged—as evidenced during a recent babysitting evening. My daughter had set up a bedtime strategy that went like this: Leo would watch a show (with the lights off) on my daughter’s new iPad in Ava’s room while I gave Ava her bottle in the rocking chair. The only hitch is that I’m not familiar with iPads.
Thankfully, my daughter had left a little handprinted card with instructions for me:
“To turn on the tablet: hit small button on top right, tap and slide up on screen, enter the password, (which she provided) and Netflix will open.”
Sounded simple enough… until I saw the Netflix icon on the iPad. It was the size of a postage stamp. I had no idea how to enlarge it, and turned around to ask my phone for instructions, then went back to the iPad. In the meantime, Ava had started toying around on my phone and clicked so many random numbers that my phone was disabled. “iPhone unavailable” was the chilly message flashing on my screen each time I tried to put in my password.
I paced up and down the room holding Ava and trying unsuccessfully to get into my phone. Still locked out.
I took a quick look around to see if maybe my daughter still had a house phone—in the unlikely event I would need to make a call in the next five minutes. There was no sign of one… anywhere. I returned to Ava’s room to see Leo happily stretched out on the daybed, watching Peppa Pig on a full screen iPad. He had figured it out himself. Who needs Grandma for technical issues!
My phone finally became “available” again, but there was no one I needed to call. I switched off all the lights and sat rocking Ava while the muffled sounds of Peppa Pig drifted across the room. I put Ava in her crib and joined Leo for the last five minutes of the video. It was much more fun than comparison shopping!