I wasn’t paying much attention to how my boys were using their computer time last week. The laptop hummed on the dining room table as they plotted together. Over three daily sessions, they covered an oversized sheet of paper with Lego products, quantities and prices copied from the website.
Their list was heavy with Bionicles and Indiana Jones sets. A recent birthday money purchase got them into Mars Mission. They were still developing their distribution plan for the wish list when the cleaning happened.
The list was an accidental casualty, consigned to the bin in the alley. They moaned about the time lost on the list, but quickly sat back down and asked for more paper to start all over again.
Then Dad stepped in and drew their attention to the glories of web based shopping sites. "Guys, look at the buttons on the Lego site. You can create online wish lists and save them. You could print them or even email them when you are done."
Point and Click is much more efficient than handwriting. The list was recreated (and expanded) in one session on the web.
My nudge helped them explore the site, adjusting quantities and figuring out how to remove items from the lists. Sometimes I forget that they don’t always know instinctively how to use the web.
I’ll just have to remember not to leave my credit card laying around.
