Behrman House Blog

I  often hear people say, “Kids these days are just born knowing how to work an iPad®” or, “If you need help with your computer just find the nearest 12-year old, they will know what to do”. As a tech savvy adult (I’m the IT manager at Behrman House), I used to dismiss these phrases. “I don’t know if that is so true,” I thought. “Those people probably just don’t understand technology themselves.”

But recently, I had an experience that changed my perspective. I am the proud father of a three and half year old girl and a two-year old boy. Recently on a road trip my wife and I brought along an iPad to keep the kids entertained while we drove to our destination. About halfway into our trip, I heard  my 3.5 year old said to my 2 year old in the back of the car, “You can’t use that app Drew, we don’t have any wifi!”

I had explained wifi to her in the past, and told her that some apps, like YouTube, don’t work when we are in the car. But she actually retained that information and understood it enough to pass it on to her little brother!

So, I am now convinced: kids today ARE “born knowing how to use an iPad” and I am now a fully fledged member of the crowd that enjoys sharing these kinds of stories.

But it’s not just stories. Since kids these days are tech savvy at very early ages, I’m convinced that if we want to keep up and connect with them we must understand the most current educational trends in the world. As parents, teachers and educators, the more we know about what’s out there, how it works, and what it could be used for, the better our tools for reaching our kids are.

 And if we are lucky, they might just pass the info onto their baby brothers.