Funny Fridays!

Today's blog post is brought to you by Caroline of New Hope Beading and is sure to give you a giggle!

Like many Moms, I try to monitor which TV programs my children watch. We are, for the most part, a PBS kind of family with a bit of The History Channel thrown in for good measure. Since starting newhopebeading in late February, however, those TV rules have softened just a tad. This was the case one recent Saturday morning when I found myself staring at a stack of jewelry that needed to be photographed, edited and listed, not to mention the custom order that needed to be finished. When my children, ages 6 and 9, asked if they could watch a marathon of this show called The Brady Bunch which, “must be new Mom ‘cause we’ve never heard of it,” I acquiesced. Hey after all, my 4 brothers and sister and I were no worse for wear for watching Greg and Marcia and the gang playing in their Astroturfed backyard.

The kids tucked away in the living room with Jan and Peter, I retreated to my studio (a.k.a. the dinning room) to get some work done. I had not even gotten through the first set of photos when peals of laughter drew me to the living room. Before long I found myself on the couch between the kids answering questions. “Why on Earth had they written In Color under the title of the show and what did that mean Mommy?” My worldly 9 year old had heard that TV had been in black and white “long ago” but surely her mother had not been alive back then. I explained that yes, it was not that long ago that TV was in black and white and that in 1969 color programming would have been a big selling point.

Before I could even think of returning to the photographs my 6 year old had some questions of his own. “What happened to the monitor on Greg’s laptop Mommy and why is the paper coming out the top of his printer?” I spend the next 5 minutes explaining how a typewriter worked. They had heard tell of them. I still don’t think my little guy quite grasped it though because he had the follow-up question of, “Why did Greg put a whole new piece of paper in the printer when he made a mistake? Why didn’t he just backspace over it?”

That mystery solved, I found my job as tour guide through 1970 was not complete for Jan was about to use the telephone, which oddly enough made this strange circular motion when you dialed it. The mysteries continued. “Why were Mr. and Mrs. Brady not able to get a phone call through to Jan just because she was on the phone? Was she simply ignoring her call waiting or was it broken? And why didn’t she simply check the caller ID and see it was her parents calling and take the call? And if the Brady’s call waiting was broken why didn’t Mr. Brady just try Marcia or Greg on their cell lines?”

I could see that I was not getting back to my photographs anytime soon!!! And do you know what? That was just fine. The custom order got done the following day and the photos later that week and I spent the morning with my kids on Memory Lane. As surprised as I was by their questions I was more surprised at myself for not realizing how different their world is than the one I grew up in. The Bradys got me thinking of all the ways the technological world has change.

What things in your children’s lives could they not imagine living without and/or what things from your childhood would they be totally perplexed by? I’d love to hear! Post your answers below in comments and take a moment to view the “groovy” Busy Moms Team creations (just click on the picture). I know any Brady would think these items were “out of sight!”