I’m not sure whether to be dismayed or delighted… am I allowed to be both, at the same time?
I’m delighted about my kids’ initiative, and dismayed at the power of Apple’s advertising.
Listen to my story…
Saturday morning, racing towards a deadline, I was working in my office when my daughter came in and placed a letter on my desk. The letter was a handwritten, 4 page, “persuasive essay”.
It begins:
Dear Mom & Dad,
Over the past few weeks, we have been increasingly intrested (sic) in the iPad. We would really like the smallest one to share. There are three reasons why this would be a smart buy. We also have plan about how we would use it, share it, and store it.”
She goes on to mention that, given her calculations, we’d save enough on hard back books that the iPad would “eventually pay for itself”. And, that was “not including all the books you buy”.
I suppose I should have been prepared for this.
The very same child has mentioned to me how much better the 6-minute video on the Apple site is, compared to the ads on the back page of the NYT, at explaining how you could use an iPad.
Last week, when I read aloud from the paper a critical review of the iPad, she had commented, “I bet he wrote that on a pc.”
Still, I’m surprised. I don’t think of my kid as being very tech-involved. This one’s the kind of kid who uses her DSI as a “communication module” for the neighborhood StarWars games in the backyard.
Yet, here she is, lusting after a techtoy.
And she’s not the only one.
My DH has been looking for something, anything, that would make an iPad a sensible purchase
We’re supposed to set a model for our kids. You don’t just get what you want, you earn it. Or you need it. Or you make it yourself.
Usually, you don’t get mom & dad to buy you one, even if it will pay out in 18 months of digital books and movies.
I try hard to distinguish “wants” from “needs”. We don’t need an iPad, we just want one.
I read the whole letter over several times with my DH, chuckling over the clever arguments. (Grandma, if they come out with a new model too soon, you’ll get this one and we buy a new one. That’s the plan.) I mentioned our family budget. And our MacBook.
Still, I had to admit I was delighted by the essay. It was persuasive, as advertised. And of course I was impressed by her use of data. (That’s my girl!).
Still, I was no closer to a purchasing decision.
But my DH was. When I mentioned, yet again, that an iPad was not a “need”, but a “want”,
He said: “Chocolate. That looks like a ‘want’ .”
She said: “But it’s a need to me.”
Check and mate.
Reader, we bought an iPad.
Three days ago.
I have yet to use it myself. Or even hold it in both hands.
Notwithstanding the “terms of sharing” outlined in my baby’s letter.
Harumph.