After having the Apple iPad for just a day, I took it along on a Mom visit. Although I had put just a couple of apps I still felt it could be a positive meeting of the two.
So I brought the iPad out and showed it to my Mother in a very low key way - we played a game of Yahtzee together (read review). Then we put a puzzle together on it. She reads the obituaries in the local papers, so I brought up the local papers' obituaries on the local paper web sites. I showed her how to enlarge the web site text easily with gestures. Then I informed her that the iPad was her birthday gift. Uh oh. Major mood change.
She protested the gift. She said she didn't want it. She wouldn't use it. She didn't have time to use it. Could I send it back? No, I said, I wasn't sending it back. I showed her again how easy the iPad is to use. I brought up a Shirley Temple movie, Seabiscuit, from Netflix. She liked the movie, liked the device, but didn't want to have it as her own.
OK, I said, I'll keep it and bring it on visits. So for now my strategy is to keep bringing the iPad along on visits until she gets used to it.
Buying a $500 gift for someone often involves taking a chance. I'm OK with that. I'm OK with her not liking the iPad at first, maybe even never taking ownership of it. But I'm still optimistic. Computers can be frightening for people who aren't used to using them. I understand that. I'll stick with it. I think she'll come around. She got her ham radio license 20 years ago because I did and she wanted to be involved with the hobby. Time will tell.
What do you think? Your comments are welcome.
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