Lately it appears my Google Home is assisting my ten-year-old son more than anyone else. Hence, I dubbed it the Google Home Smart Parenting Assistant. I’ve taken full responsibility for creating a smart home environment where everything is connected and controlled via voice command. I know that my children are growing up very differently than I did. We live in a world full of technology that keeps advancing. I didn’t grow up with artificial intelligence, augmented reality or virtual reality.
I barely grew up with the internet. It wasn’t what it is now! I remember a horrible AOL dial up situation and it wasn’t even at home. We went to the computer lab at school or library to use computers. I vaguely remember my dad buying a HP desktop for the house in the nineties but, I never really used it. When I got my first “REAL†job at a newspaper in my early twenties, that’s when I had access to a computer in between the hours of 9-5. My kids have been introduced to tech since they were toddlers.
My son takes full advantage of having a smart connected home with Google Home as our smart assistant. He utilizes it daily by asking it questions, especially if I’m not quick enough and he wants an immediate answer. Baking & Cooking is a fun activity in our home and he’s always searching for recipes and getting step by step instructions while we prepare the dessert or meal. My son hasn’t used a light switch in a while being we’re using Philips Hue Lighting and can control the lights with Google Home.
When he thinks he’s in trouble and trying to prove his innocence he tells me to go to the cloud and play back our security footage since we have security cameras recording around the clock. It made me cackle the first time he told me to do that! I was like… this is what life for my ten-year-old has come to! I tend to work with something streaming in the background whether on the television or music on my favorite Google Play Station. My son will notoriously control my volume or change my settings via the Google Home.
Google Home has quickly become my sons’ smart assistant and he uses it for EVERYTHING! The kid loves it so much after he changes the color, dims the lights at bedtime and turns on sounds of the ocean, he tells “her†I love you and she responds. I can always count on him to be on top of the weather forecast because he checks it first thing in the morning so we can plan our day and dress appropriately. It’s a great homework assistant. He’s gotten help with history, math and science by asking Google questions.
I’ve even used it to help with measurement conversions when we were adjusting a recipe and making less. We’ve adjusted to the tech lifestyle! It’s all about functionality and convenience for me and my family. When my mom comes to visit she’s intimidated by all the technology and a little paranoid behind the cameras and cloud. She feels like she’s being watched or recorded 24/7 and doesn’t like the thought of personal information floating around in a cloud. She’s in the Baby Boomer Generation, so I get it!
Overall, I love having Google Home & Google Home Mini smart assistants in my home. I use it for many purposes which I have shared in the article Top Ten Things I Love About Google Home or the article Compliment Your Google Home with a Mini. My son has clearly learned from his tech savvy mom to embrace technology and use it to his advantage. It tickles me that this is the norm for him. I can’t even imagine what it will be like by the time he has kids because my childhood was nothing like this.