How To Keep A Mac Child Happy And Well Dressed

I’ve used Macs longer than I’ve had children, so guess which one I defend from the other?

My three carpet crawlers have learned how to use the Mac’s keyboard, the mouse, the Off button, and how to say “Uh oh” at the worst time possible.

My solution? I’m teaching them how to design their own clothes.

Seriously. It could come in handy one day. Maybe they’ll bring me clothes when I’m in a nursing home; which, after three babies three years should be right after Macworld in January.

My oldest knows about Macs. Well, she knows that sticky fingers are a big no no, that keyboard keys need to be put back immediately, at least before mommy makes that face.

She also knows the Mac’s mouse makes things happen. Mouse? You bet. Do you honestly think I’d let a three year old who saves drool because it’s shiny touch my new MacBook with the lusciously big, glass, and probably expensive track pad?

We did the right thing and took a very old PPC Mac mini, attached a cheap and somewhat slobber proof screen to it, and taught her the basics of point and click.

Then, we added a few games here and there and, well, honestly, Mr. Rogers or Barney the Dinosaur never could entertain the way a Mac entertains a toddler.

This week I was looking around for another game or application for my daughter’s Mac and came across one that is called FishDog Dressup. If you know anything about three year old girls, you know they love to dress up.

If you don’t know anything about three year olds at all, it’s alright. But don’t try to learn on your own.

FishDog Dressup is not for adults, though I vaguely remember a Microsoft operating system named Bob which looked eerily similar. No, FishDog Dressup is a sweetly attractive Mac game, of sorts, that lets your child dress up someone on screen.

Kids master drag and drop rather quickly. The also understand the benefits of click, click, click, and wait for something to happen. Miraculously, they put two and two together and figure out that they can control what the on screen character wears.

Start with a girl or boy, select a palette for colors and patterns and drag and drop. Add hair, shoes, shirts, shorts, dresses, even super hero costumes.

No, I’m not expecting you to spend much time figuring out how to create America’s Next Top Model, but adding a sense of fashion to a child’s daily routine is not a bad thing.

If anything, you’ll avoid the stripe blouse and plaid skirt mixture that make mommies with a true and gift fashion sense go berserk before breakfast.

FishDog Dressup is painfully simple, yet wonderfully elegant, so much so that a three year old can dress up an on screen character with ease, and the possibilities, and the resulting time not spent terrorizing the cat with another bathing attempt in the toilet, are endless.

The only thing missing with FishDog Dressup is the ability to take the face from an iPhoto photograph and drop it on one of the onscreen characters. That would be super sweet beyond belief.

Otherwise, anything named FishDog can’t be all bad, right? You get hours of entertainment for children and all it will cost you is your Mac. Hmmmm…