I had this rather surreal experience last night.
My daughter added me to her skype account. That sounds fairly mundane but while I was in the kitchen on Preciousss (my macbook)...she was here in the lounge on Uni1 (the windoze machine), and we "talked" together in text for the very first time.
It was weird.
I've known my daughter for all her 15 years of life. At least I thought I did. Our pattern of conversation and communication has been set in that time and we have become used to our method of relating together as mother and daughter.
Text chat exposed me to her wit and intelligence like no other form of communication has thus far. For the first time I felt like I was communicating not with my "child" but with a new "friend"...a person of maturity and wisdom. If we had met online as strangers I would have assumed this girl was much older than I know she actually is.
Where will this new avenue of communication take us both I wonder? It will be interesting to (re?) discover my daughters mind in time as we talk through the strange and unique method of text-based chat. Perhaps I won't so much find a new version of my daughter but a new friend as well :) That'll be very cool.
addendum: Reading back this post a bit later on...I realised I hadn't mentioned that I don't condone using text chat as a primary method of communication if you actually live with someone under the same roof. Hahahaha! It goes without saying doesn't it? That communication using ones voice, eyes, body and spirit is by far a more intimate and effective way of telling others our thoughts and feelings. Hmmm? I don't know but put it this way... my daughter and i aren't about to stop actually talking to each other like mothers and daughters generally do. Text chat is just another method of communicating that will add to our lives not detract from it.
6 comments:
I was just about to say.. aahh don't agree .. but then read what you had said later.. and yes I do agree.. My daughter blows my mind every day.. for 12 she is intelligent beyond my wildest dreams.. and has an awesome sense of humor..I have tried texting, but her english writing needs a whole lot more work.. now I can say the same for me, my french writing needs loads and loads of work.. LOL so for now we get along without texting each other..but you know what, I am one day looking forward to it.. because you did hit one point, we seem to relate to each other easier thru text words rather then verbal words as human beings for some reason..if my daughter one day does decide to one day text back and forth, I am anxious to see and read what she has to say.. should be interesting.. :-)
This is awesome! I think the text does add something. In a way, what it adds is just that little bit of distance that lets you see her brand new all over again, as though seeing her for the very first time.
Ooh... I'm going to go post about this on JJL and link back here!
Yeah. :)
Thanks Viv and emmie for your lovely feedback. I'm very proud of my daughter (most of the time *wink*). She will grow into a fine woman ....although I do hope those organising skills kick in soon...you should SEE her room at the moment! Hahahaha!
JJL? Was ist das emmie? That's cool about the linkages though {hugs} Danke
JJL stands for "Joyful Jubilant Learning." It's a group of blog authors of which I'm a member. The post I wrote that links back to this one is here:
Unlearn Who Your Children Were
Cheers! :)
Wow! Thanks for the link emmie and the wonderful article you wrote over there at JJL.
Wow! I am decidedly chuffed indeedy :)
Just wanted to add that my daughter is bi-lingual.. didn't want you think she at 12, cannot write the english text..poor kid would faint if she seen that.. she can write,read and speaks english/french but it takes her forever to text the english word through typing.. Now if her mother would get on the ball and study more of the French language, I am sure we would be chatting as such.. but the kid types faster then I do in the French language and especially in text code.. geesh, another language I have to learn.. Just getting to old for this.. LOL
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