We are currently living in NZ, in-laws are in UK. They want to Skype us every weekend (although usually ends up every fortnight) to see my ds. That's great - when we were in the UK we did the reverse with my family and the time difference generally works out pretty well.
However, they seem to struggle to use it even though before we left we gave them instructions, my sister in-law has sat with them and talked it through numerous times and we advise them nearly every call. I realise they are not as familiar with laptops and the internet as my generation (although my family, including my mum who is a bit of a technophobe managed it).
- They never turn on the video at their end until we remind them.
- They set it up virtually every time with a bright light directly behind my MIL so you can't actually see her face (not very engaging for a 2 yr old).
- They set it up so that they aren't sitting together and then attempt to swing the camera back and forth.
- They don't seem to be aware that they go out of shot frequently when they lean forward (again, a 2 yr old isn't particularly interested in talking/responding to a random voice).
Finally, and I expect this is unreasonable, my MIL doesn't 'do' anything, she just sits and watches. At least my FIL attempts to play games (e.g. if 2 yr old points at screen he reacts).
The above would probably be fine if they only expected say 10 minutes but they want to skype for a lot longer but trying to get a 2 yr old to stay and interact (or even stay in the room) is impossible when he can't see them and my MIL just sits there half out of shot in silhouette.
They are coming out for 10 weeks from just before xmas (when dc2 is due) and I am dreading the fact that my MIL will not interact with ds but will complain that he doesn't like her... as she did when he was a very wriggly baby and cried if she just tried to hold him still. Unfortunately due to health issues she is less mobile than average for her age which is part of the problem but she also has very high expectations of him and I am worried she is going to be disappointed (and vocally complain) when he wants to play with Grandad or others instead of her.
Oh well, at least we can try and coach them in Skype again when they are here and it might improve things once they are back in UK...