Vexing Advances

As I was walking into the office tonight my 85-year-old father-in-law, who was babysitting Hendrick along with my 82-year-old mother-in-law, called my cell phone to ask me how to turn on the television set. The question was simply enough but he might as well have asked me how to perform an appendectomy.

I felt like saying, "Just do what I do, keep pressing the buttons until it works. " But that wouldn't have been very helpful, would it? My father-in-law, who has a doctorate in religious studies but can't remove an individually wrapped cheese slice from its casing, was frustrated and I didn't want to make matters worse.

So I punted to my husband, the keeper of the remote control and all things electronic in our household. "I'll tell John to call you as soon as I get in the building," I said, sensing his agitation. "In the meantime, just let Hendrick watch TV in my bedroom. He knows how to turn on that one."

I know my brain doesn't function as well as it did before my toddler came along, but modern technology isn't really making things easier for this overloaded mama - or retired reverends. It's funny for adults to say their children are more technologically savvy than their parents, but maybe it's because we find so-called advances a little more complicated than they have to be.

I should have told my father-in-law to have Hendrick read a book instead. Nobody ever has trouble figuring out how to turn the pages.