Do Ants Have Ears?

"Let's Skype Babi!" my two year-old says enthusiastically while sitting in my lap and gesturing at my computer.

I perform a mental double-take and ask her what she said. Her baby-fine hair tickles my cheek, and she smells delightfully of baby shampoo. Bouncing up and down on my lap, she reiterates that she indeed wants to Skype my Aunt. I seriously doubt that my Aunt has Skype, or even knows what it is.

I laugh and set my little one down to play. Her request leaves me astounded. Her generation is steeped in technology. My three children have never known a world without virtual pets, video games, educational videos, cell phones and laptop computers.

One night at bedtime, my five year old came out to ask me a question she'd been pondering, "Mommy, do ants have ears?" Honestly, I had no idea.

"I don't know sweetie. We could look it up."

"Ok, let's Google it!"

Information has never been faster or more accessible. That leaves me wondering about my own childhood. My brothers and I used to have fun fishing with hot dogs at the end of a string tied to a palm frond, making forts out of blankets and chairs, and collecting tadpoles after a large rain. The world was somehow bigger and filled with any possibility that our imaginations could muster.

If we needed answers, we headed to the burgundy-bound 26 volume set 1970 edition of Encyclopedia Brittanica. If the answer wasn't in there, then it probably wasn't important (or we spelled it wrong.)

Their world is so different from mine as a child. I wonder if all of their technological advantages do their imaginations a disservice.

As I sit pondering that, my two year old comes back holding a super bouncy ball. "Let's play ball!" she says while waving the green plastic orb above her head.

Now that's more like it.

Thank you God for the world we live in. Help my children to use the advantages of technology to grow, learn, and to bring peace to those around them. Help me to be the mother they need to grow into the women you want them to be.

Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6

p.s. Ants have little sensors on their feet that act as ears. I Googled it. :)