Are you three states away from your grandchildren or oceans away? Are you looking for a way to make closer connections with them? Do you want them to recognize you when the opportunity arises to visit? If your answer is a resounding "Yes!", you might want to venture into the scary land of video calling.
I use the word 'scary' because so many of us have had to use computers and email for our work that we can, at the very least, email our closest family and friends. But to go beyond email and word processing skills is to go into a shadowy area where all forms of unknown technology threaten our technologically shaky self esteem.
But I'm experiencing a great way to keep in touch with my soon-to-be one -year- old granddaughter. She is a 9-hour car trip away so she has to become reacquainted with us each time we see her. With the family's venture into video calling, she not only recognizes us but also seems happy to see us. She becomes very excited when she hears the computer sound indicating a video call coming in; she moves quickly to the computer to see what happens. How's that for a tug at the heart!
We're able to talk to her, show her pictures, play pat-a-cake, sing the Seven Little Monkeys song, and watch her clap her hands in delight. What a treat!
My laptop has no webcam(the next one will, I swear!). So our son gave me a Logitech webcam for Mother's Day. I went to
http://www.skype.com/ to download free software, and so did he. Also our daughter, who lives closer and who gives us lots of face time with our grandson, uses Skype as well. It's nice to hear about his latest escapade and watch him telling us about it on screen when we can't be there.
My server won't accept a Skype download. I'm thinking that it is because the server has a video calling application of its own. Remember that I don't know much about the technology that I attempt to use-so realize this is just a possibility, not a basic truth. But Skype is free, and the video calls are free as well. So I called the help desk for my server, and a technician was kind enough to load Skype through Firefox for me.
The little Skype symbol is green when it comes on-and it does so automatically when I log onto my server. If I click on it, the Skype screen appears. I can easily add people to my contact list, and I see who is online at the same time. As dim as I am, I had a little trouble when the video went blank on me, but the tools, the welcome screen, and a right-click on the video screen itself gave me ways to fix that-in simple, non-techno terms. Now a video call with our little grandbaby comes in every Sunday night .
I have a friend whose grandchildren are small and live VERY far away-in another country. She skypes at lunchtime when they are eating lunch, and so is she. The family are all visible, and so is Grandma. She sees them once a year so bonding long distance is a gift.
For our older grandchildren who text all day and can read email, skyping may take up too much of their time. I have ideas to close that generational gap between grandparents and teen grandchildren as well, but I'll leave those for next time.
Skype doesn't provide three-way video calls yet. I know other services do. I'm waiting for that, though, so that our adult children and their toddlers can keep in close touch as a larger group. Are you using video calls to keep in touch with grandchildren? I'd love to hear about your experiences.
Until then, I remain a happy woman because my grandchildren recognize me even though they're far too far away.
