simsa0 (@simsa0): With my nephew living in a distant town I learnt that the adult way of doing conversations via telephone doesn't work with children ("How are you?", "How is school?"). The adult-style to enact intimacy via information gathering doesn't resonate with them, it's boring to them. 1/5
simsa0 (@simsa0): So instead, how can we use the telephone in a way that is interesting for children? The answer is: Use it as a means for play. My favourite is
Hide and Seek. (Both of you with a mobile. You count down from 10 while the kid hides somewhere in its flat, then gives a sound. 2/5
simsa0 (@simsa0): You have to identify the room the child is in merely by the sound made in this room, transmitted via the mobile.) 3/5
simsa0 (@simsa0): Lately we encountered another way of using the phone: We don't speak at all, just have the speakers turned on as both of us do what we do (e.g., him looking through his microscope, me reading a webpage). Sometimes we giggle and then ask each other what's so funny. 4/5
simsa0 (@simsa0): The phone as means for distant but simultaneous presence, like sitting next to each other in the same room. Lovely. And It takes away the stress of somehow having to act like an entertainer to the kid. 5/5