I made this word up, but the phenomenon exists. I felt it last night while letting my 9-year-old neice take me on a tour of her favorite computer games.
I know nothing about video games and told her that, but she assumed I know nothing about any technology and went on to lecutre me on the definition of user generated content and why it’s important for the Internet. What she didn’t know is – I’ve been writing about that topic since before she was born. I couldn’t get a word in edgewise so I just bit my tongue and tried not to laugh. She’s too cute.
But this morning I started to wonder if I should have corrected her. Male or female, old or young, we ALL need to ask what our audience knows about a topic before launching into an explanation they don’t need or want. That’s good communication 101.
So I’m curious…have you experienced kidsplaining?
If so, how did you handle it?
