I came across an awesome facebook post today about how one mother is intentionally limiting her kids’ use of electronics. She wants them to hone social skills, the art of conversation, and not miss teachable moments because they are too buried in technology to interact with her. Her post can be found here. A lot of what she said resonated with me. We try to monitor and limit our kids’ use of technology (i.e., our oldest is able to play angry birds once his homework is done, etc…) but I know it is a crutch I use at times. Recently we were at a friend’s BBQ and the kids had played outside for the first hour or so we were there. After eating, I let them go in the house and watch a movie. She didn’t have children of her own yet, so there wasn’t much for them to play with beyond what we had brought with us. I think of that type of technology use as “survival,” so to speak. I definitely don’t want to give the impression that my kids never have screen time, but I like to think that it is a reasonable amount for a 4 and 6 year old.
The other day we were heading home from one of our many appointments (speech and OT) and the kids were upset because they wanted to watch a movie on the DVD player in our van. “Look out the window,” I told them, “watch the movie called ‘Life’.”
They didn’t understand what I meant, but they did hush up and we did not watch a movie on the way home. Instead they chatted, fought over some toys in the backseat, and sang Farmer in the Dell. And I felt good about that.
Thoughts? How do you limit your kids’ use of technology? Are there certain lengths of time you follow? Certain games you encourage over others? Have a great day!