Saturday Vince had gone to an auction with Chad and Nicole. Addie had been swimming and I thought she might want to take a nap but she didn’t. I felt bad and wanted to take a quick nap. I bribed the child and it bit me on the butt.
I told her she would watch YouTube on my laptop if she would sit quietly and let me take a nap. Oh, yes! My laptop! She really wanted to do that.
I explained to her that this is my computer that has EVERYTHING on it so please don’t do anything but watch YouTube and I put it on her YouTube videos that we’ve saved for her.
I slept and when I got up after about a 30 minute nap, the laptop was closed and sitting on the table. Everything seemed good. Later, I went to use it and I sometimes have to sign in with a password. The laptop wanted a password. I typed it in. No. I tried again. No.
Me: Addie, did you have to sign in with a password?
Addie: Yes. I closed it and when I opened it again, it wanted a password.
Me: What did you do?
Addie: I tried to type it in and it wouldn’t let me so I pushed another button and typed something else and it worked.
Me: You didn’t have to do anything with my phone? (because there’s usually a verification on the phone)
Addie: Yes. You got a message so I typed “yes”. (Yes is the magic word to change the password on my laptop)
Me: I think you added another password. Do you remember what it was?
Addie: No. I didn’t look at the keys. Our teacher told us not to look at the keys when we type.
OK! I could add a whole new password but without knowing the last password but by doing that, all my other passwords are lost and any data not synced with other devices is lost.
Every password I have was stored in this laptop (probably not safe!) and I have no idea what most of them are. Every single thing I’ve done has required a multi-step process to reset the password since I don’t know what the old passwords were.
Addie said “You look like you’re angry with me.” I told her .. I’m not angry with you, I’m angry at myself. I didn’t tell I was angry at myself for trusting a 7 year old with a computer that has so much info on it that I need. I simply said “I’m angry that I don’t remember my passwords.”
Lesson learned!
Ruth says
It also sounds like she can’t tell the difference between plain typing on the keyboard (try not to look at your fingers!) and keeping track of passwords. And then there’s the idea that she can’t occupy herself for an hour without a device in her hands so you can nap. I used to give my youngest a pile of books to look at beside me on the bed, so I could doze off for 20 or 30 minutes. Before cell phones or tablets or lap pads, Of Course!
JudyL says
We were in a hotel so I didn’t have a pile of books or many options.
Mary M says
So frustrating
Jen says
I shouldn’t laugh at this, it has to be so frustrating on your end!
JudyL says
It was frustrating but I leaned a good lesson.
Sharon Decker says
My husband kept all his passwords on his computer. Closed the computer down and couldn’t remember the password to get into the computer. I now keep all passwords on a RecZone Password Safe, a separate device that is not stored on the internet so it cannot be hacked. Of course, I could always forget where I put it, but so far I have always found it.
Pat Anderson says
The good news is that she was honest…might be time to get a little netbook for her to use!
Judy Laquidara says
I think 7 year olds don’t need their own computer but that’s just me. She does have a Kindle for kids because we can get her books and learning games on that but she has no idea how to do anything else with it. I’d much rather see her playing outside or playing like we did as kids.
dezertsuz says
I hope it worked out so that you were able to recover everything.