I bought my first mobile phone when I was 23 and pregnant with my first child.  It was a clumsy, chunky black device with a small screen that had a single purpose – to dial and talk to people.

That daughter is now almost nineteen.  Her mobile phone is a a thin sliver encased in a slick pink cover.  She actually doesn’t talk much on it, but is connected to her world via What’sApp, Facebook and SMS messages.  Since she is now living away from home, and I’m of the over-protective parent genre, I also use her phone to keep tabs on her whereabouts and know that she is safe in her apartment every evening (more about Life360 in the future).  Her phone also serves as her camera, videocamera, notepad, alarm clock and watch.  It also lets her know when her bus is coming, or if she has missed it 😦 .

My youngest son is eight.  He is VERY connected to our iPad, though we ration his time allowed on it very carefully.  He has grown up with mice and touchscreens, YouTube and VOD.  When I travel, her prefers that I stay connected with him through Skype rather than a telephone call.  He likes me to snap photos of his art projects so he can email then to his grandmother.  He loves to try out new apps.

Which leads to many questions that I hope we can explore and answer together here.  How do we guide children in a mobile world that is so different to anything we experienced when we were growing up?   How can we use our own devices to stay connected, to remain a cohesive family unit, to understand our kids?  How often are we distracted by our devices, looking down at our screens instead of up at their faces?

As our devices have become more mobile, so have our careers.  How has our own mobility pulled us into longer commutes and more time away from home?  Is telecommuting a benefit, or a burden?

What are your biggest challenges as a mother in a mobile world? And what are your solutions? I look forward to exploring all of the meaning and facets of mobile parenting with you.

Image of baby with mobile phone by Paul Mayne (Flickr/Creative Commons License)