"Life In The 21st Century"

This holiday vacation I decided to do the YULE TIDE thing and take on five kids. My two (ages 5 & 7) and my sisters three (ages 12, 10 and 5). It's always more fun with more kids. Anyway, I know the 12 year old is very responsible and could easily watch the brood for 10 minutes but you can never be so sure. So I have my brother and he lives in California and often video cams me. It's almost like he lives here we chat so often; but he gets a chance to see his nieces and nephews LIVE. He doesn't get home much. Well yesterday, I was desperate and I needed to run an errand. I needed to literally run to the store for more chop meat for dinner. It would be very hard to get all five up and out. So I got my brother to be the 10 MINUTE WEBCAM babysitter. I sat the children around the screen and he watched them for me. Babysitting Via WebCam...NOW YOU KNOW YOU'RE IN THE 21ST CENTURY! I did have my cell phone on (with him on the other line) and the kids were given explicit instructions to 1) not answer the door or phone 2) stay in front of the screen 3) behave. There were SO EXCITED watching my brother watch them. But of course 10 minutes is a long time for any mother who is a nervous-nelly but I must say, having the webcam eased the pressure VERY MUCH. It's not the real thing, but it's close.