My kid has the Bubonic Plague. At least this is what he has informed me of. It seems he was assigned this topic for a research paper. He has also informed me he will need to spend an inordinate amount of time using the computer to be on the internet.

I could swear there was a time, as a child, when you had to actually read books for your research papers. You would bike down to the local library with your notebook, and ask the quietly helpful single librarian for books on the subject. You would spend an  hour looking at magazines instead, and then finally start copying whatever you could find, making sure you changed enough words to avoid plagiarism. And of course, you would do all this the night before it was due. The other alternative was to break out your parents old encyclopedias of which several letters were missing if your mother didnt go shopping each week at the grocery store. She always did insist we had a perfectly good set.

Now it seems the kids cant do anything without electronics. They are determined to do homework using the computer. They cant play any games that dont involve a television or monitor. They cant cook food unless there is a microwave or drive through. They cant play the piano or guitar unless it involves CDs or MP3s. They cant write a note or letter unless they have an email account of their own.

I am threatening to implement an electronics embargo and watch them squirm. I am threatening to dust off my old guitar and make them sing songs with me. I am threatening to ban them from DVD movies and shower them with books instead. Could they handle it? Would they think I was the wicked witch? The whining, the pleading, the begging. Come to think of it, I dont think they could handle my whining, pleading, and begging. Maybe change is a good thing. At least they dont have to listen to me.