Low-Tech Dadcessories

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I have four sisters-in-law. Each of them is a genius in her own right—creative and energetic in ways I can only imagine. Getting to know them has been one of the blessings of life with my incredible wife.

I was reminded of their smarts during a recent family reunion. We met at the beach for a little bit of sun, a lot of sand, and some good old-fashioned family bonding. As we unpacked the minor army of mini-vans and SUVs that gathered at the beach house, one of my sisters-in-law brought out what would be the most effective, and yet most unlikely, hero of the weekend. It wasn’t one of the videogames, tablets or movies or gizmos that instantly appeal to our digitally native kids. It was something wonderfully simple and elegantly analog. It was the mighty inner tube.

This sister-in-law is one of those oracles when it comes to the right things to buy for the family. She finds it, my wife is likely to get one, and before you know it the product is practically the brand of choice, endorsed by the family Christmas Card letter. She’s smart, and has a nose for the right kinds of things that kids want to play with. This year, she really outdid herself when she rediscovered the ultimate in retro beach toys. The kids couldn’t seem to do anything without them. We went to the beach…and the kids wanted to wade using the inner tubes. We went to the pool…and the kids wanted to play with the inner tubes. Sitting and watching TV or a movie together…somebody wanted to sit in an inner tube. I am surprised they didn’t find their way into the slumber party on Wednesday night (although I did see some of the young cousins jumping into them from the bunk beds.

At a certain point, the inner tube became a symbol for what I as a parent tend to overlook: the obvious low-tech items out there that can help me spend time with my kids and have a good time. I tend to think I need the next 2.0 version of whatever gadget I can get at a big-box warehouse store if my children are going to enjoy themselves. My smarty sister-in-law’s inner tubes weren’t fancy (they weren’t even branded…conspicuously plain) but they did the trick. And where the inner tubes went, the parents and kids played together.

The inner tube at the beach has me thinking about the other low-tech items that can bring a parent closer to the kids this summer. Any favorite low-tech Dadcessories in your life?

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  1. This blog post strikes a chord with me. I have, for the past few months, been vowing that I’m going to go completely “screen-free” for an entire week. This idea lurks in the back of my mind, but I have not yet scraped up the courage to actually go through with it. Do I really want to have catch up on a week’s worth of Facebook??? How will I know what I’m supposed to do and when without my smart phone telling me? What if I actually have to look up a telephone number since I do not own a single paper phone book?

    My evenings, once filled with reading or playing games with my husband, are now spent glued to some sort of screen…whether it’s the TV or computer or my phone or the newest toy: the TouchPad. Not only do we have several more screens in our house than we did 10 or 15 years ago, but they are now much more portable. I remember the days before we had a laptop. When we left home for vacation, we left our one and only computer at home on its desktop…and we didn’t miss it. Now, some sort of screen—and often more than one—accompanies us everywhere we go. I’m ready to stop the madness!!

    I appreciate the wonders and conveniences of technology, however low tech fun sounds very refreshing at this point in my life. We are headed tomorrow to a beach condo for our last-hurrah-before-school-starts-next-week. I’m trying to build up enough courage to go completely low-tech on this vacation. Wish me luck 🙂

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