Teaching Parents Technology

In thinking about what I was going to write for this week's Mommy Made Easy column, I tried to envision where most of you would be right now. Because it is holiday week, I imagine that many of you are either with family or have been over the past week. 

When visiting parents or older relatives (or having them visit with you), there is one thing that many of us are asked to do involving today's technology. Undoubtedly at some point during a family visit, many of us are cornered and handed a perplexing gadget that has been acquired this year or are led into the computer room to provide tech support for whatever our senior relatives can't seem to figure out.

We used to call our visit to my in-laws "windows closing time" because one of the first things we would do is sit down at the computer and close all of the tabs they had opened that year. On other occasions, we formatted hard drives, programmed remote controls, emptied caches, deleted cookies, upgraded virus protections, input contacts into cell phones, and set up television show recordings on the DVR.

While I dearly love helping my relatives and seeing them light up when they finally understand what I am teaching them, I would also like to leave them knowing that they will be able to navigate, rewind, record and dial all year long without complications.

Finally, Google has a solution for those who struggle with technology.  This website - http://www.teachparentstech.org/ - provides explanations in the form of videos for the most basic technical maneuvers. Now your loved one can log on and get the answers they need in July instead of waiting for your holiday visit. Just make sure you bookmark it this year and leave instructions for finding it again.

I consider myself pretty proficient when it comes to technology, but even I found some great tips on this site. In today's fast paced technological advancements, it is hard for even the sharpest of us to keep up. I am so thankful that Google put together a site that I can refer to and refer others to when they need it.

Here is a fun video introducing Teach Parents Tech. I'm happy to announce that I shortened this URL for the first time with help from a video on the website:  http://goo.gl/Xc7a0.

Let's face it, as most of us moms know, our kids are getting smarter and smarter. Their generation is being exposed to technological advancements that would have made our heads spin when we were growing up. My seven-year-old had to tell me how to shop for apps on my smart phone. She can navigate the web like a pro; she knows Power Point and even a little bit of Adobe Photoshop; she can start and stop a recording on the DVR; and she regularly texts her friends from my phone. Today's kids just amaze me.

Perhaps Google should employ second graders and partner them with senior citizens as techno-tutors. Until then, Teach Parents Tech can put an end to frustrating phone calls from senior loved ones over how to cut and paste. 

This holiday, I hope that you spent more time talking and less time typing, more time smiling and less time surfing, more time giggling and less time "Googling."  

Editor's Note:  Normally, Rebecca's column appears on Thursday but was moved due to holiday stories.