Today's tykes are way too tech-savvy

My 3-year-old daughter is officially more tech-savvy than I am.

It pains me to admit this because I really thought I had at least several more years before she would roll her eyes and grab the cell phone out of my hand to show me how to use it.

"You just do this, this and then this," she said as her little finger tapped open her favorite bubble-popping game.

I felt about as useless as, well, I thought my mother was when I was a kid.

I guess it shouldn't surprise me considering she is growing up in a world were technology is the norm and things like smart phones, iPods and laptop computers are all that most kids can remember. My husband teaches sixth grade and found himself in the strange position of explaining film for camera to his 12-year-old students recently.

"You mean those old-fashioned cameras where the picture comes out the front and you have to shake it really fast?" one student asked.

Not a Polaroid, my husband explained, just regular old film that you develop with negatives. The kids were clueless. You mean you couldn't see the photo right when you took it? Ludicrous!

My husband got the same reaction when he mentioned a cassette tape. Some students thought it was just an urban myth.

So my daughter is in this generation where memories of things like VHS and landlines are fading fast. One of her first words was "iPop" when she wanted to hear her music, and she is constantly buying new games without permission on my husband's Droid cell phone.

And when I tried to give her a dial phone to play with like I had as a kid (you know, the one with the red handle, shifty eyes and a smile), she looked at me like I had just told a hilarious joke. She went to get my cell phone and explained to me (very slowly) that this was a phone. Come on Mom, get with it.

Well, slap a loser label on my forehead and leave me to my butter churn.

And when we sat down together recently to make a list of the things we are grateful for during the Thanksgiving season, she asked if we were then going to e-mail the list to God.

So I've been trying to spend some time with my daughter lately without phones and laptops and DVRs. We've been relishing some of the simpler, less tech-savvy enjoyments of life, like collecting sticks in the yard, jumping in leaves and taking long walks.