This image came up on Facebook today and I finally had enough. I’m writing here to rant on people who keep posting this crap.
Electronics are not evil. Computers and the internet are not horrible things. People said the same thing 50 years ago about us watching TV. It was so bad and was going to rot our brains and blah blah blah. It’s been said 100s of times before and will be said again and again for years to come.
What I want to say is that this is not about the electronics. This is about parents who don’t want to do their job and make sure their kids grow up having a well rounded childhood. For me, let me cite my own kids as prime examples of this.
Both Dylan and Megan have a tablet. It has games, Netflix, Youtube, and other video content. We also have a Wii U which the kids play games on as well. These kids spend far more time doing other things than playing on their electronics. Yes, they do like their electronics time, but they do not live on them. They get very little electronics time during school days and limited time on the weekends. But for the most part, my kids enjoy doing lots of other things other than playing on electronics.
They play Lego. They play Pokemon. Megan plays with her Shopkins and makes up games all the time. Dylan and I play air hockey downstairs all the time. He also enjoys going outside and climbing the trees and making up games with himself and his sister. He loves building things with Lego and using his imagination to create hybrids of sets he already has.
We go outside and walk or bike around the block. We go to playgrounds and climb on things. We go swimming and hiking now and then.
We also sit and talk at supper time. What did you do today? Did you learn anything new today? Was it a good day or bad day? We actually carry on conversations about what’s going on in our lives everyday.
THIS IS WHAT PARENTING IS ABOUT FOLKS!!! I’m not saying I’m the perfect dad. But I am one who knows that having a child is not just something you do for fun (although it is fun making them). You have a responsibility to your kids to do the best you can to insure they have full and happy lives. Get them to play in the real world and experience their surroundings in many different ways. It makes for happier kids and happier parents.
But it also doesn’t mean that if I give my kids my phone to play Pokemon Go I’m being lazy. Just because my son is watching Netflix one afternoon does not mean I am taking anything away from his childhood. If Megan wants to watch Shopkins videos on Youtube for an hour during an afternoon, it’s not the end of the world.
I spend countless hours with my kids just playing and hanging out. But my kids also want to play on these magical electronic devices and as long as they are getting a well rounded life experience, I see no harm in letting them have access to these kinds of electronics. It’s only when their whole life is buried in there that it’s a problem.
