Technology Meets The Bush
M. Pattie 2015
My daughters: they’re real bush kids, in this whiz-bang hi-tech age,
and the value of their upbringing is sometimes hard to gauge.
They climb up trees, make cubby huts and swim down at the creek,
with horses, dogs and acres for the bestest hide and seek.
While other kids are goggle-eyed and transfixed to a screen,
they’re outside chasing butterflies and hunting tourmaline.
I don’t think that they’re missing out on life one little bit,
the only eye-pad we’ve got’s in the glove box first aid kit.
Their IPod’s made of bush bark and the ear phone cord is string,
our smart phone’s still a land line with a real old fashioned ring.
The pros and cons; the great debate, but I’m not taking sides,
but sure enough the high tech world and simple life collides.
The kids came home from school, they’d been rewarded, which was nice;
for one day only they could take an electronic device.
IPods, game boys, screens, Nintendos – whatever you choose,
for one day only, at the school and teachers will excuse.
But my kids didn’t squeal and jump for joy like they were s’posed ta
Cos one kid got the angle grinder, the other took the toaster.
?
), read a book a day and play under the sprinklers on a hot day. I also recall jumping off the shed for fun (didn't have a tree big enough to climb). I have no idea how I escaped without breaking a bone. It was not a conventional childhood for the time and the only thing i missed out on were the conversations with my schoolmates about what happened on the tv soaps the night before and exposure to contemporary music.