stlmomsworld.com - Kay Quinn

Monday, June 30, 2008

Transistor Versus I-Pod

I've saved a few boxes of things I loved as a kid. I still have my old pointe shoes from when I took ballet classes, my track cleats from when I ran sprints in high school, and an autograph baseball from the Hawaii Islanders, a Pacific Coast League baseball team my Dad used to run in the 1960s and '70s.

I've been waiting to share some of these things with my son, and that moment came over the weekend. He loved picking out treasures from long ago that have been stored in the attic for years. An old wallet of mine, my first transistor radio, one of the first watches I was ever given.

But along with his excitement, what really struck me is how the world has changed in the years since I was six years old, the age of my son now. Most kids today carry I-Pods, not little AM-FM radios. My old wrist watch needs to be wound, and most kids today wear one that needs a battery.

Don't get me wrong. I think the majority of the advances in technology have been wonderful. But I wonder if something is being lost in our world of rapid technological change, and cell phones for kids in grade school.

One of my son's favorite discoveries from the box was my old microscope and glass slides. He's spent parts of the last few days looking at animal blood and tiny creatures on the slides. They still hold the same fascination for me today as they did when I was a child. And I was thrilled to find my son loved them just as much.

That got me thinking: Have our children lost some of that sense of discovery that I remember so well from when I was a child? Are they so used to accessing information and staying connected that they're no longer really exploring the possibilities and the world around them?

I think that may be happening. It may not be all bad. But I want to make sure that when my son is my age, he'll have an eclectic box of treasures to go through that will contain more than just old electronics. My hope for him is that he'll have the imagination to want to try a wide variety of activities that involve more than just acquiring the gadget-of-the-moment.

I found an old Jim Croce tape in my box, along with my first tape recorder that my parents gave me for Christmas when I was about 12 years old. So, I apparently was listening to the I-Pod of the day. But the rest of the things in the box remind me that a child's world should contain more than music, or the current, hot pop-culture item.

It should also include things like stamps, old coins, maybe even an old microscope; simple treasures that will still fascinate kids decades from now, just as my old treasures from years ago fascinated my son.

Labels: I-Pod, pop-culture

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Name: Kay Quinn

Location: St. Louis, MO

ABOUT ME

Health and medical issues make up one of the most exciting beats in the newsroom. Few other areas of news touch each and every one of us so closely and so often.

Whether you're a senior worried about paying for prescription drugs, a parent concerned about the health of a child or waging your own fight against cancer or heart disease, you can usually find health news that applies to you in my daily reports.

I always tell St. Louisans they are so fortunate when it comes to health care. Our city is home to two research hospitals.

Doctors and scientists at Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis University School of Medicine are involved in some of the most critical research underway in medicine today.

Work is bring done right at this moment, right in our area, that could lead to a vaccine for bird flu or better ways to diagnose and treat Alzheimer's disease.

I enjoy staying on top of those stories, as well as bringing you health and medical news you can use.

Along with the latest medical breakthroughs, you'll frequently find information on low-cost exercise programs right around the corner from where you live, or details on where to get this year's flu shot.

Many viewers want to know whether I have a medical background. I don't, but my mother was a nurse and I know her health background made a big impression on me as a child.

It's the lifelong curiosity and interest I have in health issues that serves me well in my work as health reporter.

Staying on top of what you need to know to stay fit and healthy is a job I love.