A typical night at the Richardson house is now punctuated by a conversation that goes something like this:
Tucker: (Screaming) Hey, DAAAAAAD!
Me: (Running in from the other end of the house thinking something is broken) “What????”
Tucker: “Can I blog?”
Me: (Trying to go from fright to calm and supportive) “Um, sure.” (Deep breath.) “That’s fine.”
Tucker: “Can you help me?”
Me: “C’mon Tuck, you know how to do it by now. You’ve got like 200 posts on your blog.”
Tucker: (Wide-eyed) “REALLY?!?”
Me: “Well, um, no. Not really. But at least 12.”
Tucker: “Coooool!” (Does awkward break dance thing he learned at break dance class last week.) “Can you at least help me login?”
Me: “Sure. Go to Blogger.com.”
Tucker: “Oh yeah, right.” (Short pause.) “How do you spell ‘Blogger’?”
Me: “Sound it out. You can do it.” (Add supportive facial expressions) “Bl…Bl…”
Tucker: “B?” (I nod.) “B…Bl…L?” (I nod again.) “Bl…Bl…Blo… W?”
Me: “What?!? W?”
Tucker: (Eyes wide) “A?”
Me: “You’re guessing. Sound it out.”
Tucker: Bl…Blah… O?”
Me: “Yep.” (Five minutes of this ensues)
Tucker: “Ok. What do I write about?”
Me: What do you want to write about?”
Tucker: “Aliens!”
Me: “Great. Write about aliens!”
Tucker: “How do you spell it?”
Me: (Trying not to frown.) “Tuck…you can do this. Sound it out.”
Tucker: “A?” (I nod) “A…Al… L?” (I smile.) “Al… E?” (Oy)
Get the idea? Thirty words in 45 minutes. But he’s blogging, by golly.
Will,
This is great! Let Tucker know that Santa has streamlined his Wish List processing by subscribing to feeds. On the other end of the spectrum my mother (age not mentioned) wanted to publish Fishing Reports for the Ontario Fishing lodge they frequent. Check it out: http://hcfishing.blogspot.com/ (check out the cell phone moblog we set up for her).
Young and mature (won’t say old) blogging is for everyone!
Turek
Will, I too have a 7-year old blogger. He has had spaces on a couple of blog sites..but here was my concern trying to find a way to stay on top of the comments he was receiving to his postings. However, I could not find a way to have comments sent via RSS. How do you keep on top of this so that you see the postings before Tucker does (email?)…or maybe I am looking at it all wrong…perhaps I shouldn’t worry so much? He has since switched to a more closed area to blog (only “more” closed because of the way accounts are currently “managed” by taking advantage of an outgoing email server setting…since I am part of the group that hosts the installation of elgg I have some control) Anyway…interested in your insights regarding safety and protection of young minds. Tucker…I think you might have an alien loving friend…and if you like Lego Star Wars…you might have a best buddy! (http://elgg.accelerateu.org/spenceWech/)