More recently I have been a bit bothered by the way Bean can operate most electronic devices (iPad, iPhone, play station). AND the amount that he whines when he is told he may not play on them. He seems to think these are HIS devices and wants to be on them from the time he wakes up til the time he goes to sleep.
We were using the phones to keep him calm in the car. And I even thought I was REALLY doing a good thing when I downloaded ONLY educational apps. I figured why not let him play, electronically, if he’s learning?!?! Right?😏
Well I think we need to fall back on this electronic thing. He used to love reading books, now I’m beginning to notice that he doesn’t pay attention as long as he did before. He’s only 18 months old but I figured now is a good time to pay attention to habits. He very rarely plays with is flash cards and will stop anything if he hears/sees someone on a device.
So we’ve made a bit of a change in my house. We’ve decided that even us parents must spend less time on devices or watching television and more time reading on our own or with Bean. We only have 13 channels and spend loads of time watching Netflix but its time to scale it down.
Just this weekend we decided not to have the TV on for most of the day. I would say we watched about 4 hours of television and I can remember what we watched, Sesame Street, Maya & Miguel en español, a bit of 2 basketball games and a bit of the Oscars. Not bad. The TV was off for most meals and we had a chance to chat. Chatting with Bean is the best right now as he works of figuring out new sounds, tones and words.
Bean enjoyed “coloring”, reading/listening to a few books, and running around laughing uncontrollably as he was chased from one room to another. He loves his basketball and soccer ball so we rolled them a bit and played catch (well I caught the balls he threw and rolled it back to him). I’ve also noticed that he enjoys playing alone sometimes as I read, cleaned or just observed. Oh and I can’t forget he even had time for the potty this weekend!! YES!! I guess his potty strike is over.
I do want my children to be tech savvy especially since that’s what this world is coming to. Don’t want them to be left behind. At the same time, I’d like to instill some values and balance that can’t come from being “teched-out” MOST of the time. I hear parents of older children talking about the need for instant gratification and lack of focus or communication skills (even from some of my peers) and I’d like to make a conscious effort to create a balance in life.
So here’s to putting technology aside for while. I think this will be a good challenge for my hubby and I as well. For now we may just try this on the weekends and maybe cutting things off during the week a bit earlier. I loved not having the background noise during meals too. So we’ll see how it goes. I’ll be sure to keep you posted😉.
How often do you find yourself or your children consumed by technology? Do you have tech-free time in your house?