TODDLERS AND TECHNOLOGY--NOT SO DIFFERENT!

Owning a Blackberry smartphone is a little like adding another child to your family. The device is constantly buzzing, poking, and distracting its owner from whatever it is she''s trying to accomplish. It bears an uncanny resemblance to the uncooperative two-year-old hanging off Mom''s leg at the Motor Vehicle Office. And is that holster really any different from a Baby Bjorn? Still not convinced? Consider:

• They both "start up" the minute you visit the washroom.
  
• They both go off in the middle of the night.
  
• They''re both heartier than you think, but sometimes the slightest thing can lead to a complete break down.

KATHY BUCKWORTH is the author of several parenting humour books, including The BlackBerry Diaries: Adventures in Modern Motherhood; Journey to the Darkside: Supermom Goes Home; and The Secret Life of Supermom. She is the only two-time winner of the Professional Writers Association of Canada Excellence in Humour Writing Award, and her writing appears in national publications and on websites around the world through her monthly "Funny Mummy" column. She is the parenting expert on Slice Television''s Birth Days and appears regularly on CBC, CTV, Global,TVO and CityTV. She lives in Mississauga, Ontario.

The BlackBerry, says Kathy Buckworth in her witty new book, is truly the "whining toddler of technology," constantly buzzing, poking, and distracting its owner from whatever it is she's trying to accomplish. In this way, it bears an uncanny resemblance to the uncooperative two-year-old hanging off a mother's leg at the Motor Vehicle office. And is that BlackBerry holster really any different from a Baby Bjorn? No, according to the author. When either squeaks, Mom jumps. Still not convinced? Consider Buckworth's irrefutable facts: Both "start up" upon entering the washroom. Both go off in the middle of the night, even when they're supposedly turned off. Both require time alone plugged into a one-way communication device to be recharged: for the BlackBerry, it's the USB cord; for the kid, the television set or GameCube. This comic guide to the travails of new motherhood shows the acclaimed humorist at her best.