Friday Fictioneers – Kids do the darnedest things

~ neilmacdon
PHOTO PROMPT © Ted Strutz

I tried. Really tried.

When he tried to thumb the base, I explained that this was a book and showed him how to open it, that swiping didn’t change the screen and how to turn the pages.

Everything became too much when I found him holding the cat by the tail and looking suspiciously at its bottom.

“Where do the batteries go?” he asked.

So, you can understand why I had to take him back to the droid store and swap my robo-child for a hoover.

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Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge set by Rochelle Wisoff Fields to write a 100-word story in response to a photo prompt. You can find other stories here

62 thoughts on “Friday Fictioneers – Kids do the darnedest things”

  2. Methinks this robo child needs a little tweaking….
    Meanwhile, I know quite a few adults who turn the pages with a lick of the finger and a curl of the corner… takes everything in my power not to slap them!

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  7. Nice twist, Neil. If your story is prophetic, it will be a close run thing as to whether AI will wipe us out through sheer ignorance of what life is all about, or we’ll abandon AI because it doesn’t do what we want.

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  9. Oh how true this can be, Neil.
    My grandchildren pointing at a dial telephone asking, “what’s that?” Or the handles to crank up the windows in my truck and then saying, “Oh, cool” and using them after I explained.
    Nice one.

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  20. Welcome to the world of Philip K Dick, Do Android’s Dream of Electric sheep. Perhaps all children are biological robots who need programming correctly. (Where the patch is not a nicotine one).

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  27. That was hilarious. I’m sure the cat will be happy, it can slap the hoover around without complaint. The hoover won’t make you laugh as much though. And you may hate me now officially, since I unabashedly fold down the corners.

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  29. LOL. I once got a robot vacuum and for whatever reason it didn’t ever want to leave its stall (fear of my house, maybe?) I don’t think I’d even think about getting a robot child. Real ones sound difficult enough. Really fun story, Neil.

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  30. Hilarious! My great-grandson (4) asked me what I was doing. I said, “Reading a book.” He said, “No, that’s not a book. There aren’t any pictures.” It didn’t matter, though, since he won’t sit to look at a picture book either. Videos are all he understands or has patience for. I suppose by the time he gets to college, he won’t need to know how to read, just watch.

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