[…] is important that parents not use technology of any sort during family meals or bedtime. These are precious times that parents have with their children. The use of phones, video games and the like displaces […]
[…] is important that parents not use technology of any sort during family meals or bedtime. These are precious times that parents have with their children. The use of phones, video games and the like displaces […]
[…] drives in the car can be torture for some of our tots. Many parents are cool with their children DVD watching, iPhone gaming, or eyeballs locking into Playstation. (I’ll succumb in an […]
[…] 3-6 year olds, when they have more periods of passive entertainment, (like video games and TV shows) only allow that at the end of the day, at late afternoon. Morning […]
[…] have had incredible success with this one. Basically, the idea is that for 15 minutes a day, you check your tech and focus 100% on your kid. Just 15 minutes! Even 10 will do the trick. Make a really big […]
My son is also 14, so I too experienced a basically tech-free time when he was young. I remember the fun times when we would go off in the stroller for long walks and I would point things out to him and we would “talk.” I see a lot of young mothers and nannies these days who are either on their phones or texting instead of interacting with the child. I think it’s sad that they are missing the opportunity to engage with the child, as well as teach. I wonder what studies in the future will tell us about those children and their cognitive abilities. I can’t help but think that seeing the adults around them buried in gadgets from day 1 will have some detrimental effect.
Thank you for this wonderful post. I completely agree and identify with it so much. I was alerted to it on Twitter by my friend and associate Lisa Sunbury and, coincidentally, your name happened to come up in my RIE parent/infant class today(!) when a mom named Dawnia recommended you as a sleep specialist.
My children are 18, 14 and 9, and I am fairly new to blogging and was previously very “low-tech”. (I write about Magda Gerber and the RIE philosphy.) My family and I agree that I shouldn’t have a Blackberry or Smartphone because the temptation to check in and get sucked in, as I do sometimes at my home computer, would be too great. I’m finding it hard to create boundaries, even though I am very aware that my children still need my undivided attention periodically as they did when they were infants and toddlers.
You’re probably read the recent study (reported in the New York Times) of 300 children who complained about their parents using technology while watching them play sports, during mealtimes and in the car after school pick-ups. This is an inconvenient, but very real problem, and I truly believe it effects OUR quality of life, not just our children’s.
Kids in Restaurants on iPhones — Including Mine
[…] (on the rare occasions we ate out or travelled). On a parent yahoo group I frequent, one parent lamented “what’s with kids on iPhones in restaurants?!” I chimed in, “I know! How about packing some […]