. . .meets this description perfectly. I was the one with the computer in the room. Whenever I tried to teach the women in my family electrical/computery things, I'd always run into this wall. Either my sister was 'so not interested' or my mom would tell me to 'just fix it, Adam.'
But when I came back from college one summer, they were all hardcore gadget/computer users. I wasn't there for my sister whenever she needed her stereo/tv/vcr set up, and so she became the 'in-house expert'. She also got really into AIM, ICQ, text messaging her friends on her cell phone, and all the other super-social electronic uses that have popped up over the past decade. My mom pirates . . . I mean, mixes . . . CDs with her friends. I even taught her to use some simple desktop publishing software to make stuff for work. But it took a long time before they were comfortable with this stuff -- my mom didn't grow up with all this technology, and my sister was probably consciously trying to be 'not like Adam'.
On a separate note, [sw] has the best story concerning 'male toys' and 'female toys'. Apparently he knew some parents who went out of their way to raise their kids, not in a gender neutral world, but in a gender reversed world. The girls were forced to play with dump trucks, and the boys were given dolls. Of course, the girls just invited their trucks to tea-time, and the boys ripped the heads of the dolls, so I don't know what it proved. I don't remember how the kids turned out. I just love this story because it reminds me of the time my sister told me that she wanted to play with my Legos, and the next thing I know, there is a melted pot of Legos on top of the fireplace. Apparently she was playing house, and the Legos were her food.
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timeasmymeasure
Whereas my family . . .
Date: 2003-11-19 09:30 pm (UTC)But when I came back from college one summer, they were all hardcore gadget/computer users. I wasn't there for my sister whenever she needed her stereo/tv/vcr set up, and so she became the 'in-house expert'. She also got really into AIM, ICQ, text messaging her friends on her cell phone, and all the other super-social electronic uses that have popped up over the past decade. My mom pirates . . . I mean, mixes . . . CDs with her friends. I even taught her to use some simple desktop publishing software to make stuff for work. But it took a long time before they were comfortable with this stuff -- my mom didn't grow up with all this technology, and my sister was probably consciously trying to be 'not like Adam'.
On a separate note, [sw] has the best story concerning 'male toys' and 'female toys'. Apparently he knew some parents who went out of their way to raise their kids, not in a gender neutral world, but in a gender reversed world. The girls were forced to play with dump trucks, and the boys were given dolls. Of course, the girls just invited their trucks to tea-time, and the boys ripped the heads of the dolls, so I don't know what it proved. I don't remember how the kids turned out. I just love this story because it reminds me of the time my sister told me that she wanted to play with my Legos, and the next thing I know, there is a melted pot of Legos on top of the fireplace. Apparently she was playing house, and the Legos were her food.
She melted all my good pieces, too . . .