In the car yesterday I had to conceal my knowing smile as Eli at 7 started in, "Mom, things have changed a lot since I was little." I mean to me he's still little, but to himself he's seen a lot in his life and already finds what he sees as big differences.
Really Eli, what has changed?
Well, first of all when I was little they didn't have Mighty Beanz or Silly Bandz and look how big they are now. I mean everyone knows what they are and has them at school. I can't think about not having them.
What else has changed since you were little? I asked
Well they didn't have (Nintendo) DS or Gameboys.
They did have Gameboys when you were little but you are right they didn't have DS.
Yeah, that's right it's changed a lot mom. And they probably didn't have TV when you were little.
Well Eli, I'm not THAT old, but when Grandma Pat was little they didn't have TV and when they finally created it it was only in black and white.
That's weird, replied Eli.
But when I was little we only had 3 stations and we could only watch cartoons on Saturday morning, I stated.
Why didn't you just rent a video or turn on your Roku? Eli asked.
You know Eli, they didn't have those - someone invented them. I just realized there was one more thing that they didn't have when you were "little" they didn't have Roku or Netflix. Those are new.
That's really weird, replied Eli. Why didn't they just make them?
For the same reason they didn't just make Mighty Beanz someone didn't have the idea yet. Yhat's how things are invented. Someone wishes they could have something and comes up with an idea. For example they could only watch cartoons on Saturday morning and some Mom or Dad wished they could have their kids watch cartoons on a different day. So they dreamed up an idea and then it got invented.
This is my version of 101 innovation and Eli was very happy with it.
We continued the conversation about inventing and how things keep changing. It was really fun. By the time I got home I realized I could take back my knowing smile that I had in the beginning of the conversation because things really have changed from when he can remember until now at 7.5 years of age.
Interestingly I called my mom and told her about the conversation which created another conversation as she reflected back on her 77 years.
Ideas and innovation are amazing - and I thought to myself - it would be fun to have this conversation with Eli in a few more years.
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