Generation Text

Our youth minister called me one day and asked if I'd be interested in having my family participate in a CBN News report. Without consulting my family, I said YES! How cool! When my kids came home that afternoon, I informed them that our house would be invaded by a news crew and that we would be on TV. Jaws dropped to say the least. "What has our crazy mother gotten us into this time?" They were actually less than enthused at first. I suppose I'd be pretty weirded out a little if I were them. Eventually they accepted the idea and it came to be. Chris was interested in the idea from the get go, knowing that this would be a great experience for us all.

The theme of the news story that we are lucky to contribute to, is teenagers and their technology. The reporter emailed us several questions to go over ahead of time. Chris & I would be interviewed about how we control the computers and cell phones that our children use. How we think our kids benefit from technology and also our worries or concerns. Our oldest son, Cole would also be interviewed with similar questions.

One week later, Monday 3:30pm... Heather Sells, reporter from CBN News, and her 2 camera guys, Tyler & Jonathan, showed up at our house right on time. What an experience. It took roughly 30 minutes for the 3 professionals to ask a few questions, scope out our house and set up their lights and cameras. It was a big production for our modest sized home.
The plan was to take "candid" footage of our family using computers, cell phones and video games. And then we would jump into the short interviews. Well, who would think that in order to come up with approximately 2 minutes of footage, over 2 hours of taping would be required! It was quite cool I have to admit.

Each of our 4 children (yes, Glynis was included) was filmed using one of our 3 computers. Glynis often shares time with Daddy on his lap top watching music videos. The two of them were tapped while Carson also used the other computer in our bedroom. Chandler got his turn too. He was tapped playing an online Disney game that he loves. They even asked me to jump online and pull up my blog and type a bit. Cole was video tapped in the den working on a video editing program on the kids computer. He was also tapped texting on his cell phone! Chandler's favorite part was playing Guitar Hero for the camera.

After the technology was all caught on film, we were asked to sit at our dinning room table to share some family time con media. Then came the interviews. I was nervous, as I normally do not do any public speaking, but after spending so much time with the news crew in our house, I felt very comfortable. Cole is a natural. He sailed through his interview with much confidence. It all went smoothly and the crew quickly started packing their things. I believe it took about 3 hours from beginning to end. Heather and her crew will also be going to visit another family before the report is aired. It will be so interesting to see how it all turns out. I'm told that it will be on TV and the Internet in just a couple of weeks.
I'm so appreciative to Heather for making our TV debut so delightful. She is a lovely woman with 3 children of her own. What a wonderful job she has. Both young camera men were friendly and funny. They talked about their jobs with us and they worked easily with the kids.



Here's a quick slideshow of behind the scenes pictures: