I was born in a small, midwestern town and moved with my family to Norfolk, VA when I was 14 months old. We lived in the Hampton Roads area until my dad received orders to Heidelberg, Germany, which was a few months before my 12th. birthday. We lived overseas for 3 years and attended DoDDS schools. Being one of six children, I didn't grow up with a lot of "extras" like other children of my generation. As a kid, you'd loved to be able to play Atari and watch MTV (when they actually had music videos) and watch movies on a VCR, but we didn't have the money for those things. Heck, I didn't see anything in color until I was 14 years old. We just watched a plain, rabbit-earred, black-and-white TV. I was so AMAZED the first time I saw "The Wizard of Oz" in color. The Horse of a Different Color was actually CHANGING COLORS!!! (I had no idea what they meant for all those years seeing it in B&W). As an adult, I am grateful for not having so many distractions as a kid. I was able to tune in to my imagination and creativity, and in turn, those are the gifts which helped me through many difficult situations throughout my growing up and even now. Children need to use their imagination and be creative and express themselves. It's ok to be "bored" and not have technological distractions sometimes so they can tune in to themselves.