iPad kids
It's easy to be a hater from afar. But when you actually have to deal with something yourself, you may begin to understand why people do what they do. Yesterday I had to babysit for the first time. Now I understand how iPad kids are made.
I was in charge of taking care of an eight year old boy for 5 hours. I've met him multiple times before as he is the child of a family friend. Before yesterday, every interaction had consisted me saying hi and him not looking up from his tablet. I silently judged his mom for not forcing him to have interactions with real people, thinking that he was yet another victim of "screen autism". But after last night, I get it. For whatever reason, he decided that instead of letting me make some money by sitting around for a few hours, I would have to earn it. As soon as his parents left I was bombarded by Nerf gun bullets and balls for various sports. We played basketball, football, soccer, and more. He made me arm wrestle, race, and battle him with lightsabers. He handcuffed me multiple times and put me in jail. He tested my limits.
I really understand why parents often fall into the temptation of giving their children iPads instead of playing with them because kids are exhausting. However, I still think that more parents should at least limit screen time and give their children educational games to play with if they are too busy to play with them. I remember by grandma making word searches for me to do and having me practice my printing when I was with her. This gave me a head start on learning so that I always performed above standards in school. I think more kids need to be doing those types of activities at home so that their brains are stimulated and for some of the burden to be taken off of teachers.
I completely agree, lots of parents allow their kids to be on their iPad because they feel it is a lot to manage with playing and distracting them. But what I learned (I forgot from where) is that you have to allow kids to be bored, you do not have to entertain them all the time. If you allow a child to be bored the more creative they become. Boredom challenges a kid to use their mind to imagine and create with this a child can entertain themselves.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree, I see how ipad kids are created and im definitely guilty of giving them technology to get some peace and quiet, but I also agree that screen time should be limited by parents.
ReplyDeleteSO much to agree with here. It's difficult, parenting. I get it, too, the giving over to the screen. Still, we all need to watch it, right? Great post!
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