The BlackBerry Diaries: Adventures in Modern Motherhood is a no-holds-barred trip through the wacky world of toddlers and technology. Kathy Buckworth is a modern mother of four and has written a funny and truthful book about life with her new BlackBerry and how her two worlds — technology and 
children — collide.
After reading and laughing my way through this book, it got me thinking, are all these modern devices helping or hurting our parenting skills?
My Modern Mom Confessions!
Try not to judge to harshly!
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My daughter plays on the computer more than we read books.
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We have traveled with 2 DVD players just so there would be no fighting over what to watch.
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When my husband asked my daughter a question she didn’t know the answer to she responded with “I don’t know, ask google?”
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Both of my children can take pictures with my camera, view them and delete them.
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My daughter has successfully purchased games on my cell phone.
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My 3 year old son loves to say the word “twitter” but pronounces it as “twidder” and we think its so cute!
- When my daughter was making a list of things she wanted for her birthday she included .com after some of the items.
- I brought more electronic devices on our last trip than SHOES!Kathy Buckworth is an award winning writer, television personality and public speaker. She has also written “The Secret Life of SuperMom“, “SuperMom: A Celebration in All You Do“, “Journey to the Darkside: SuperMom goes home“. With another book on the way entitled “Shut up and Eat: Savouring the Joy in Family Bondiing Time“
Kathy and I are giving away a BlackBerry to a Modern MOM!
Step 1: Re-Tweet my Blackberry Giveaway!
Step 2: Please leave a comment with your Modern Mom Confession!
The BEST Confession WINS!
*contest ends December 2, 2009
Comments
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First, I couldn’t RT w/the form.. Don’t know why BUT I did RT from Twitter!
My modern mom confession:
I will make a snack, put on the TV and plug my kids in so I can tweet or blog. Not too bad until you pair that with the fact that my 4 year old’s preschool had to call me TWICE this year to come pick him up. I to busy with a Twitter party to notice the time. It cost me $20, my pride and shattered the “super mom” image! My 3 year old will now say, it’s time to go mommy, you don’t need to win a camera you can draw a picture of me. Oh DUDE the guilt.. and what have I done about it? Set the timer on the stove so I can be REMINDED to get off the computer and pick up my KID!
I followed and tweeted.
Here’s mine:
My 8 yr old is really into lego (kind of to the exclusion of most other things..). He has discovered the lego website and regularly visits and plays online shopping. He was recently sitting at the desktop, playing, and we heard him ask, “Do we have a Visa or Mastercard number?”. We then discovered he had entered most of our shipping details for a rather substantial order (like $4000 in lego…). We keep the credit card statements away from the computer, now more than ever. 🙂
Where to begin? My three-year old has his own MP3 player and portable DVD player. He can turn on the computer, login, and access his Treehouse and Yahooligans games all by himself. He also regularly plays my games on Facebook, sends (incoherent) messages to my friends, and types his own name.
Michael has his own, kids, digital camera, but prefers mine. And takes pretty good pics with it too.
When I was sick a couple of weeks ago, home alone with him and really needing to rest, I let him play Nintendo as long as he wanted. That ended up being 4 hours on Mario Party 6. He played, used his star points to purchase a new character, changed modes, God only knows what else. And, I got to rest and start feeling at least a little better.
Technology may not make me a better mother, but it has helped me to cope with the trying times 🙂
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Here was my tweet since the Viral Tweeter hates me!
UR DD and .com HA!! RT @savvysassymoms Blackberry Giveaway! http://bit.ly/TbTXk Tell me your Modern Mom confessions! (I won’t judge)
I am SO behind the curve when it comes to technology… just yesterday I was coveting my gf’s shiny BlackBerry. I am still shamefully stuck in the land of lists, notes and calendars; ALL ON PAPER!! Can you imagine? How embarassing…
THAT IS SOOOOOO FUNNY ABOUT THE KIDS. WOW
My 2 year old daughter knows all of my MSN friends not because she’s met most of them but because she recognizes their pictures from the chat windows. :-S
I tweet from my blackberry so much at home that my 4yo DD asked me for a blackberry for her birthday!
I need a new one since my 18mo DS has decided he wants one too and has used mine…as a teether!
We also recently bought my dd a used ipod so she could watch movies while we dine out. Mainly because the portable dvd palyer we used to bring was too big.
I use my “crackberry” so much at home…even when putting my four year old to bed, I sometimes bring it in the room with us (my company works in three time zones, so we’re always on!) and while reading DD a book, I sneak a peak. DD, has to sneak a peak too, and now insists on typing for me…My four year old is now learning how to type and spell every night, thanks to my dear, old blackberry!
My Modern Mom Confession:
My 10yo son has a dictionary on his desk but barely uses it, he either goes to dictionary.com or uses my dictionary.com app on my iphone. Of course he has a PC on his desk as well. He may be as addicted to technology as I am.
Also….There have been a few times when he’s forgotten his book for homework or study notes for a test. I say “How are you going to do your work if you don’t have what you need?” He says, I’ll google it as if that covers his @*%! Then I get furious and say well you better hope you google all the right stuff! He’s passed every test w/ A’s or B’s- what do you say to that?
I did an old school manual Retweet – that’s how I roll…
Only one desktop computer was available, and my 4 yo was desperate to play Club Penguin after school. He knows the drill is that I check my e mail, and then he can log on. I was busy in the kitchen, and when I finished up he had already logged in as me, checked my e mail, announced that I didn’t have any (which I did not), brought up the Twitter screen and stated, “Since you didn’t have any e mail, here’s Twitter so you can check that, and then can I play…?” *sigh* The kid knows me. And a few other things it seems…
I sometimes leave early int he morning because I would rather get the kids a hashbrown for breakfast at timmy’s then make three different things for breakfast! I’m a terrible moms! 🙂
Tweeted about your giveaway:
http://twitter.com/alas3lads/status/5795745801
My Modern Mom confession:
My youngest son loves to play an online game called Runescape. This week he got in trouble at school – nothing serious, just excessive talking – so his dad grounded him from the computer. I know how hard it would be for me if someone “grounded” me from the computer and “blog-reading”, so, I secretly let my son play his online game yesterday before his dad got home from work. Ssshhh, don’t tell;o)
Sometimes we watch Tv. or movies (love that Tivo!) all day long. That’s so horrible I know. I know kids should have less than 2 hours of screen time a day, but sometimes we just don’t want to do anything else.
It’s so much easier for my kids to play a game or watch something while I surf the net or work on my blog than have them fighting and ripping each other apart.
I would love to win the blackberry! I am so behind in the techno world. I just discovered twitter a few months ago (and love it). I’m finally figuring out facebook, and I have yet to get into the smart phone world. Maybe someday soon I will send my first text…from my new blackberry? lol
I tweeted. Here is my tweet link http://twitter.com/SuburbanJung/status/5796393133
My 5 year old told me she needed to check her email on my computer….since I was on it she said then just give me your blackberry and I’ll check it on there! What 5 year old’s pick up!!
My son, who is about to turn 9, asked for a new cell phone for his birthday….a blackberry that way he can stay in touch with all of his friends and know when football is cancelled all on his new phone, just like I do!!
A Blackberry ??? I want one!!
My kids watched so much t.v as babies and toddlers – it’s the mom’s pacifier, right??
When my girls see something on tv, and are asked what they wanted for a gift – they said “Floam!…as seen on TV, Mastercard and Visa accepted. And if you act now, you get an additional Floam and just pay shipping and handling!”
…they didn’t even know their ABC’s yet.
So cool that the twitter retweet is right here at our finger tips.
My kids have figured out how to watch TV on their phones AND the computer. I know I should put a stop to this……..but it frees up time for ME so I let them more than they should.
Don’t tell. Or judge. 🙂
I hope they’ll play on the computer sometimes for peace and quiet around here. Ha!
Kim
I once tweeted while I was breast feeding. Something tells me the La Leche League didn’t have that in mind when they said breast feeding connects you with your baby….
Confessions of a SAHM Mom/writer/baker/twitterer/blogger/vlogger
1. I am often in my PJ’s until noon or later.
2. I get so into the book that I am writing that I forget what time it is. Like last night, it was almost 7:00 PM and dinner hadn’t been served yet.
3. Snacks for my kiddos at times have been Cheetos. That’s semi healthy right?
4. Speaking of the above, one time for breakfast I had a handful of spicy cheetos and a Diet Dr. Pepper!
5. I just discovered the purpose of Twitter last week! I signed up about 6 months ago and didn’t get it. I do now, however.
6. I am a Vlog a holic. I LOVE to make video posts of myself and post them on my blog. Just started doing that Nov 13, 2009.
7. I am HTML challenged. Had to ask a good friend of mine to help me with my blog. She redesigned it with some of my favorite colors!
8. I like Facebook, but ever since I discovered Twitter it is definitely my NEW love!
9. I (heart) Emmett and Jacob from Twilight! I can’t get enough of their yummy bodies.
10. Last Confession I swear, If I had a blackberry I could Twitter while grocery shopping, at the movies, at a concert, and I’d do it too. That would be the COOLEST.
Anyway, Love the fact that you are giving away a blackberry! Hope I win! May the BEST Twitter and Blog addict win! 🙂
I confess I check my email and online through most of the day while dealing with my kids. Some times I forget to give my kids lunch. Once I get all the kids home from school..I end sharing the computer with them, after homework is done of course. I always check twitter/my blog/ and couple other sites through out the day. bad mommy..I should be cleaning.
Anytime something funny happens, my 4 year-old tells me, “You should tweet about that.” She also knows how to use BOTH my Blackberry and iphone better than me. She can take pics, delete them, send them (txt and email), call people, use speaker phone, listen to music, go on youtube, play games, use apps..you name it. And, when she asked me a question the other day that I didn’t know the answer to, she said, “Well, just google it then..or ask ChaCha!”
I read your post and think it’s good you have concerns. I am more of a savy-sassy-grandma, but still keep up on child rearing. I guess I’m just going to share an experience I had yesterday which made me think of your post.
We went out to Amish land to pick up our weekly organic produce and eggs and stopped at a new place for eggs. What we found was a porchful of happy, sturdy little boys, 3, 4, and 5 playing and laughing together. No fighting, no screaming, no arguing like we typically see at WalMart. Their 2 sisters were at school, and baby sister in the kitchen.
This young mom, 30ish, was pleasant, happy and calm. Her spotless kitchen smelled like heaven. (She was making bread and rolls.) The boys ran in and out to give her and their baby sister kisses and hugs. The husband came in from the barn and also got greeted in kind. So much hugging and sharing in that beautiful, plain kitchen, and you could tell it was practiced often.
We hung around a bit just to soak up some of that calm and stress free feeling. Wish we could bottle it.
I know those kids will never use a computer, but they could speak fluently in several languages.
They probably will never eat out of a microwave, but they sparkled with health. No soft pudgy little bodies here.
They had no phone to play with, but knew how to use the ham radio when a message came in from their grandpa.
They were neat and clean in identical little outfits that Mom had made. No stress about wondering what to wear here.
I doubt Mom ever went jogging, but working in her garden and hanging out her homemade clothes to dry is keeping her in shape. And she seemed to enjoy it so much.
I could have stayed all day and just soaked it all up. The stress free lifestyle these people have is perhaps something all young mothers could learn from.
When I got home, my 35 year old son called me. This may be the first year of his life we won’t get to spend Christmas together. When I asked him what he wanted for Christmas, he replied, “A big box of Mom. Just put everything you do for Christmas in a box and send it. The cookies, the pies, the dinner, the love, and send that to me. ”
Maybe Moms need to rethink what is important in raising their children. It’s not the designer clothes, electronic toys, fancy gyms, and trips to Disney. It’s the love. Make time to make love for them.
Hugs,
Carol
I am too busy Tweeting , checking blogs, Email, and Googling things to help my 10 year old find pictures of Saturn on the internet for her book report. My confession?? I yelled at her and blamed her for waiting until ‘the last minute’ (read: interruping my ‘me’ time) to get the picture.
*My second child hacked my computer before she turned 2. (I had it on screen saver password protect and she figured out that she just needed to turn it off and back on to bypass it so she could play her games.)
*My work is portable, so I can be in the same room with everyone, even when I’m working away. Sometimes my kids just want me to put the laptop away and be truly present tho.
*My kids ask me for help with homework, and I’m more likely to show them how to find help on the internet. Mostly because I have to figure it out anyway, so I might as well show them what I’m doing.
*Our best vacation included 2 new gameboys and games that weren’t opened until we left the driveway. (I’ve also learned to look for camp spots with outlets, even tho we tent.)
*I’m there for family time and don’t worry about missing my favorite show because Hulu is my friend.
*I get my facebook, email, twitter all on my phone. So I am portable, able to be where my kids need me, when they need me to be there. I am distractable, but I was distractable before the phone.
*my oldest got my husband and I to join her Fan page designed to get her sister to join Facebook. (________ needs a Facebook).
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I overheard my 4yo talking to another child while watching the TV at Gymboree. The other little girl must have told my daughter that her mom was a teacher. My daughter’s response: “My mama sends emails all day.”
Hey, thanks, kiddo!
(For some reason I felt the need to clarify to the little girl and her mom that I actually am a writer…and yes, I do send emails…and yes, I set my 4yo up with her own free email account so she can play “email” with me and send emails to my inbox and her grandpa’s inbox!)
By the way, I tweeted about this giveaway: http://twitter.com/savvysassymoms/status/5932863478
LOL! Sorry…this new “retweet” thing is really strange. Anyway, I’m @KristenDascoli and I really did retweet that message. LOL!
I did re-tweet, but I did it myself. I don’t trust a site that wants my Twitter password. Too many hackers. Here is my Modern Mom confessions:
– We are techno-addicts.
– There are more computers in the house than people
– I have all 3 of my sons (including my 11 year old) playing Mafia Wars on Facebook.
– We have Xbox, Wii, Guitar Hero and Rockband
– My husband and I have his ‘n hers DS-lites, although my son ends up with them most of the time.
– I have a Kindle and carr it everywhere.
– Sometimes I call or text DS20 on his cell phone to get him out of bed because I’m too lazy to walk down to the basement.
I RT on twitter.
Well, I think technology can help and hurt our parenting. Here is how technology helps me.
-When I can’t answer a question my inquisitive 6 year old has asked she will suggest we look it up on internet. She is allowed computer time maybe twice a month and used to call the internet “.com .com.” My 2 year old isn’t allowed any computer time but knows how to rearrange my desktop and move the toolbar to a different location.
-Learning DVDs help me teach my 2 year old. Gotta love Leap Frog.
-Having a DVD player in the van is helpful on our long 15 hour trips to visit family. Singing songs gets old after a while.
-Love the GPS system. I don’t have to print directions. No more wasting paper or ink.
-Since the children are not allowed to watch TV during the week having a radio is helpful. They listen to music and books on CD, but if my wild 2 year old is too rowdy I will turn on a Elmo DVD so that I can cook dinner without having to worry about her jumping of the kitchen table like Super Girl. She thinks she’s a gymnast.
-Twitter is my new friend. It has been great for networking and meeting new people.
-Mommy Blogs are wonderful. I think they are a wealth of information.
-Facebook is how I keep in touch with relatives.
-E-mail helps keep me up to speed with DD’s dance class, and girl scouts.
I’m a SAHM to 3 and a blackberry would be a blessing to this aspiring Mompreneur. Good Luck to everyone 🙂
I tweeted: http://twitter.com/katjrobertson/status/5946759741
🙂
My Modern Mom confessions:
– My four year old (who cannot yet read) can get online and type in ‘disneychannel.com’ … yes, she has memorized it from watching my 6 and 9 year olds get on Disney Channel’s website!
– My son, when he was 7, successfully locked all of us OUT of the old computer. He was upset we wouldn’t let him play on it so he changed all the passwords (so that WE couldn’t play on it either) and then forgot them. Oops!
– My mother had no idea where to even begin when she tried to make a call using my old HTC Touch … yet each of my children knew how to unlock the slider, activate TouchFlo, and get into pretty much ANYTHING in my phone.
– My daughter loves to sing. To capture her talent, she regularly snags my cell phone and records into the memos!
– {bad mommy, bad consumer} Because the TV’s in my husband’s Yukon would only play from one DVD player, we have actually purchased 2 portable DVD players at WalMart for a trip back home so the kids could all watch something different. Then, at the end of the trip, we returned them. {lol}
– Our televisions seem only to have ‘on’ buttons. 🙂
– My son’s biggest aspiration in life is to create a robot – one that will do his chores so that there is nothing interfering with his television time once he finishes his homework.
– When my HTC Touch got broken {without any insurance} and I had to downgrade to a regular Nokia stick phone, I overheard my daughters talking about me being ‘cranky’ and my oldest said to her younger sister, “Don’t take it personal. She just lost her best friend.” LMBO She was referring to my phone!
– On our way to school one morning, my phone battery died so it was sitting in the cupholder between the seats. We got caught by a red light and when I didn’t pick it up, my 4 year old said, “Mama, we’re stopped. Aren’t you gonna tweet?” haha Oops, again!
Kids are wayyyyy too observant!
Okay, my five year old got a hold of a black berry…I couldn’t figure out how to do anything on it. She then took it from me and opened games and opened the email!
WHAT THE HECK!!!!!!
Are you kidding! What are they teaching them at kindergarten!! I am so out of the loop!
My 6-year-old daughter put a Bluetooth on her wish list for Christmas… and my kids joined me on Twitter last night for a @BuildaBear party. I really shouldn’t encourage them. LOL
Wow, reading these makes me feel so behind the times. My kids just watch way too much tv. They would love to play with my phone, but my middle son is as likely to throw it as he is to play with it.
I’m a photographer so with that now a days, i think i should be up on the technology out there… but just thinking about it scares me! I actually think my kids know more than i do sometimes! I can definitely relate to the .com after the sentances and the just google it, from my kids. I actually told my son to use an encyclopedia the other day for a social studies project and he looked at me like i was from another planet… I just keep telling my self that all of this technology is educational and that they will need it as they get older… right?
I would have to say that I get stuck tweeting on Twitter during my off time (after I am finished with work and my studies) and I catch a lot of grief for it from my son and my boyfriend. I also love my iPod Touch… I guess I can say it is an addiction, especially the Tap Tap Revenge II app. It’s like American Express, I “can’t leave home without it”. My son will make sure that I don’t leave it behind whenever we go anywhere (without even having to ask him to get it for me).
On Black Friday, I stole a $49 portable DVD player from an eight year old kid so that I could give it to my two year old for Christmas. He was grabbing a stack of four of them and his mom was behind me in line at the palate so I did not feel too bad about it. We need it so my son can watch movies in the car or so we can watch what we want on tv at night. More often than not my hubs and I will watch something in the family room while we are both on our laptops and my son will watch a movie on the dvd player borrowed from my sister across the room. Quality family time, right?
I don’t have a blackberry but I am always running home to check my email to see if practice, religion or even play dates are canceled or rescheduled.
I was always against DVD players in the car unless we are taking a long trip UNTIL I had my 3rd child and now the two of us spend more time waiting in the car for the older ones at various activities. Now I couldn’t live without it.
I often do as other moms do. I make a yummy snack, turn on sesame street or a sign language video, and go online. Sometimes all three of us are on our computers. DD2 on her sisters old bratz laptop and DD10 and myself on our matching laptops. Sometimes DD10 and I instant message eachother in the same room! LOL wow…Is this bad? hahaha
My confession: I’ve been a stay at home mom for a month and a half and I have been on my blackberry more since then, then ever before for my paid career! My first trip to the doctors office with my son was interesting to say the least. I forgot his diaper bag; inevitably we had a NEED for a diaper. So, I took him to the bathroom, tossed the pop, wiped him well with a warm paper towel, replaced the slightly used diaper, and went on our way home to find a clean diaper. I know this seems silly and probably gross, but the worst part was I Tweeted about it! I had my blackberry but no diaper. Mom of the year award criteria?
My 13-month-old does not have a baby book; all her milestones are recorded on my blog.
We gave her an old, non-functional keyboard to play with several months ago, to keep her off of mine.
I’m sure I’ll have plenty more to confess as soon as she’s a little older.
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Running a business that requires my constant presence on Twitter and Facebook keeps me busy multitasking while still trying to be super mom. My 6-year-old knows the difference between the text, phone and voicemail alert sounds on my cell and when my 9-year-old son gets home from school he’ll ask me if anyone posted fun pictures on Facebook for him to see. They can use computers, cell phones and pretty much any electronic equipment with such ease, I’ve heard their techno-challenged father ask them advice!
My husband actually removed my email package from my current phone b/c it was drastically taking away time from my family. I was asked to spend a month without it to see how much time I spent on it. Being without it made me a little lost, but it definitely put my priorities back in line. Now I have my email back, but the phone stays in the office during designated play time, snuggle time and all meal times.
Confessions Confessions 😉
#1) My 8 month old thinks my cell phone is cool so I bought her her own…..granted, it’s a “kids” cell phone. She crawls around the house holding it & pretends to talk on it. She even knows the word “cellphone”. When I hold up her cell phone & another toy & ask “where’s the cell phone” she will grab it!
#2) Ever since I brought little bug home from the hospital 8 months ago she has been attached to the boob for about 85% of the day. In these immobile times, a boppy pillow & my computer have become my best friend. She is now quite accustomed to the computer being only an arm’s reach away at any given moment. She knows how to move the mouse around & tries to type on the keyboard like mommy.
I just retweeted from your Twitter page. Modern Mom confession:
My 3 year old takes turns on his older brothers’ video games (psp, wii, gameboy) enough to think that cops are always the bad guys and you have to run away from cops. I’ve spent several conversations with him trying to explain that cops won’t shoot him and he should actually look for a cop when he’s in trouble, not run away from them.
Let’s see, my confession, since I have a blog about chic mom’s myself where shall I begin. I tweet, blog, facebook, and any other media outlet you can think of all the time. I do it so much that my 6 yr old ask if he can tweet his teacher that he will be late to school (in the mornings) and if he can facebook his grandma! To make things even worse I tweet with one hand and breast feed w/the other! LOL!! The treasures of a modern day chic mom- Confessions of a chic modern mom
My Confession…I can’t live without my lappy and my blackberry. Once I started working on my lappy, that is it! I’m glued! Cooking lunch will be an express 10mins! And cooking dinner will only starts at 5pm…(We usually have dinner at about 6pm). I’m glad my 1 year old son is hooked to Dino The Dragon and Nursery Rhymes…so yup, you will be able to hear the Nursery Rhymes DVD playing over and over again..and he’ll be dancing away for hours. Maybe a stop or two for milk and youtube! And that will be on my lap, in front of my lappy. And lunch and dinner will be by my lappy too… 🙂
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I was as a Walmart in Quebec. Leaving when someone shouted is this your son. He was being so quiet that I thought I left him at home. He did come follow me around the store good as gold but stopped at the gumball machines. I was never so embrassed or horrifed that I forgot he was with me.
My mom’s confession: My work space is my son’s computer desk! He loves to play games on his computer, so sometimes he has to use his father’s computer & his father? He’s left out…
I could definitely use a Blackberry!