As adults, obviously, Real Man and I have e-mail accounts.
Monkey Girl also recently opened an e-mail account.
She uses her account to e-mail Real Man and I, and also corresponds with Kim, Erin, and Michaela on a spotty basis.
She e-mails some of her friends, who also have e-mail, as well.
Sometimes, she even e-mails her teacher when she has questions she’s afraid she’ll forget to ask in class.
The other day, Monkey Girl was e-mailing something and Monkey in the Middle was in the office with her.
“I want to e-mail!” he said.
So, being the good sister that she is, she showed him how to send e-mail using her account.
I wasn’t aware this was happening until I got an e-mail from Michaela saying, “Looks like someone is having fun with e-mail today!” and she had forwarded a message from Monkey in the Middle, that was full of characters and symbols.
So, Monkey in the Middle and I had a conversation about responsible e-mailing and he asked if he could have an account.
We talked further about responsibility and the internet and e-mail, and went ahead and opened up an account for him.
We’ve decided to use it as a teaching tool for him.
I’ll e-mail him a question and he needs to figure out what I’ve written, and then he needs to try to type an answer back.
Sometimes, he’ll send me an e-mail that is unsolicited.
They pretty much all say, “i love amy bozza pizza i love mom”
Who doesn’t love to get e-mails like that?
Not to worry; we’ve set up a contact list for him, and he knows he can only e-mail the people on that list. It includes me, Real Man, Monkey Girl, and my parents.
Real Man just called to say that he has now received so many e-mails from Monkey in the Middle that they are now all being sent to spam.
So, we’re working on it. He’s learning, and I think that, given the fact that he is a digital native, and technology is going to be a huge part of the rest of his life, we might as well teach him how to use technology responsibly.
Also, those e-mails are good for my ego!
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