I was thinking as I watched my child played pretend game with her cousin. The topics they chose ranged from working in an office, ordering meal at the restaurant, marriage ceremony and going to the beach. I noticed they were quite strong in their vocabulary, using words such as appointment, menu, order, email address and mobile number.

It is stunning to see what goes on in the everyday lives are translated into the imaginations of children, to become their dramatic role plays. There is an element of truth behind this conscious period of growth and development; that what children see, they absorb images and their versions of how their social environment evolves are imitated in an impeccable unsullied truth of the matter.

Gone are the days when we will stand at our doorstep waiting for the postman to arrive with a letter from a distant relative. We now literally receive news from them on the mobile phone. The last time I received a letter was from my mother-in-law who took time to write to us when we were living as expatriates 10 hours flight away from her. Recently she wrote us an email!

The social network of today, now use the internet to create communities of bloggers, dancers, travellers, chefs and college students. We have stopped asking people what their home address is; we now ask what your email address is. Soon everyone will be asking, “What is your address or website?” Will that happen. I think it will.

Already, my 7 year old daughter is more interested in using the computer than using her pencil to write. It is a matter of years, or maybe months that she’ll start blogging. Google earth, blogging, yahoo, search, and www.childhoodspeech.com are already in her head even without any formal thought to teach her these names.

I should diaries this today so she will remember that on this day, she will see that her social environment is about to change. There is good that comes off this I suppose; she will create a new world of friends who live far away and read about them through the emails and blogs. She doesn’t have to wait for the next available school holiday to get connected with new friends.