Friday, January 1, 2010

Skype...grandparenting from AFAR!!!!

Image representing Skype as depicted in CrunchBaseImage via CrunchBase

Are you one of those grandparents that lives a long ways away from your grandchildren?  Or do you have older grandchildren across town that you just want to check on?  Or better yet are you taking care of grandchildren and need to leave them with a sitter?  Let me tell you that if you are not using the Skype video chat internet phone service, you are losing out.

Skype is a free phone service online that allows you to carry on a video phone conversation with anyone anywhere in the world the internet exists...anywhere!!!  We personally chat for 45 minutes at a time with out children in China using the service.  And that is only the tip of the iceberg.  We talk with children in Oregon while we are living in Arizona in the winter.  We chat with our oldest grandson that only lives across the city.  I talk with friends in the park model less than a block away.  Awesome should be the phone service name!

The photo you see above was taken with our computer while we were chatting with our children in Shanghai this fall.  It is near perfect.  We can text chat and send files.  Best of all, if you are the parent/grandparent that is not at home but just want to keep tabs, you can leave Skype on and just check on the account occasionally.  You will see and hear what is going on in your living room.  If you let the care giver know you miss your children during the day and want to see them, you are in the clear with using Skype in this way.

So being a grandparent from afar is not what it used to be.  Our young grandchildren recognize us when they see us.  The youngest thinks "papa" lives inside the computer when he is not with him.   We love it.  Give it a try!

b

NOTE:  We are Apple users and our friends are PC users.  It works well on both. 
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3 comments:

  1. ...but in all fairness... Apple IS really the way to go ;-)

    i skype with my lil' sis who is serving in Iraq! The quality isn't great b/c their internet is bad - but it sure make my day to see her!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Erika, this is absolutely the truth. Sometimes internet issues make the quality very poor. The over riding point is that we can actually do this.

    When we began this process the quality was greatly wanting. But, as China and the United states began up grading the speed of our connections, the quality has gone up every year.

    My thoughts are with your sister...she has hard duty in a down and dirty place.

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  3. Genial dispatch and this post helped me alot in my college assignement. Gratefulness you seeking your information.

    ReplyDelete

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