What upset the technology Applecart (I need to work on these titles)

Every kid, and lots of adults, need routine. It provides them with structure, stability & security.

Take bedtime, the kids not mine, I’m fixated on those magical hours, which fall 60 minutes apart for my dementors! That point in the evening when the house winds down & the those two little joy bringers settle in for the night.

It’s like the last page of a bedtime story

Unfortunately the routine they prefer is built around the power of electricity! It starts in the morning, before breakfast is served, with YouTube. The latest content of their favourite Tuber lasts long enough to get them through the total boredom of chewing & inhaling, which has replaced eating & drinking.

Before long a Nintendo Switch will find its way into a pair of little hands, then it’s back to YouTube or maybe Netflix. Now depending on the day of the week school comes along to interrupt their viewing pleasure, but in a few short weeks that will be September’s problem once more.

After a mandatory pit stop to recharge the battery the Switch makes its return to the stage for a little multitasking as cartoons are binge streamed in the background!

DD2 might even throw in a little iPad Roblox just to mix the soundtrack.

Scattered amongst these two kids, who probably consume more electricity than large swathes of rural Scotland, lies hundreds of pounds worth of plastic! Enough Thomas the Tank Engine sets to recreate the Island of Sodor! More Disney Cars than the Disney Store & sufficient Paw Patrol figures to save the day for an entire month!

That’s only the youngest kids toys!

It’s the modern version of a childhood, reliant solely on power & a WiFi signal. The type of ‘play’ that has replaced actual play!

In a stroke of inspired genius that can in no way be attributed to me, I managed to inadvertently break that routine and all it cost was £1.75 & a deck of cards!

I call it UNO!

A card game that has been floating around for almost 50 years, one simple enough that a five year old can beat a grown man (me) yet despite its lack of 3D graphics, online connectivity & ever changing content, manages to keep their attention for what has so far been hours of family fun & only a handful of tearful tantrums (not me)

It’s been 3 weeks since I made that inspired purchase, yet the Uno is still being played everyday, much to the detriment of the games console.

As time goes on the expensive devices are slipping back into the boys ‘routine’ but the colourful card game is holding its own & I’m rooting for it