Hi Friends,
A long ago, Nobel Prize Winner for Literature, Mr. Rabindranath Tagore, wrote, “Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man”. Even the 21st century, the process of having a child and being a parent is full of responsibility and decision making. I too went through this process when my daughter was born in 2009 and when my son was born in 2018. It’s the best feeling of the world to become a parent and to raise them.
It’s a huge responsibility in this world of technology to let them not have a digital footprint which is not relevant for them. Children these days are much more glued to the screens of tablets, smartphones, laptops or TV as compared to earlier old days when we used to play in the streets with our friends. All of us used to gather in an area around a certain time every day and play Cricket by dividing the teams. Summer holidays used to a time when the playing activity used to be the main task for all the kids and holidays homework used to be completed in the first week of holidays or during the last week of holidays.
These days I am seeing a lot of parents are handing their smartphones to their kids to keep them quiet or occupied for whatever reason but Is this right? We do need to have our own personal space which is increasingly difficult when you have small kids to take care of. But does it have to be at the cost of bringing problems for kids in terms of eyes strain, neck pain or crying out in case you don’t hand over your smartphone to them? It’s so difficult for an adult too to read or play anything on smartphone or tablet in the running car but I see children glued to the screens there also. Will it cause problems to your kids or not – I am not sure but if I do it as an adult too, I feel dizzy and my orientations seem to be lost for some time afterwards. I feel the pain of reading in the running vehicle with a severe headache till I sleep.
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| Kids with a giant hashtag! |
Being a technology fanatic myself and with all the devices I have at home for review or otherwise, my daughter was born into them. She grew with them but to date, I have never shared my smartphone with her to entertain her. I can play with her to keep her occupied or create some paper games or do some mental mathematics while her mom goes shopping and we are sitting idle in a shopping mall. General Knowledge being my first love, I ask her multiple questions to which she tries to think and answer and if not then goes on google at home to find the answer. It meant she must use the tablet which I have provided her but only for certain hours of the day. I play with her on the old Nintendo Wii where she cries if she loses to me in Tennis or Archery or play Fruit Ninja or Subway Surfer on iPad, but I make sure that she plays with similarly aged friends in the park too. I also take her for a walk before or after dinner every day where we talk about new stuff and all her queries. I have also kept parent lock on many of her games on her iPad and installed Kids YouTube, so she doesn’t get the unsuitable content for her age.
So, in the end, it all depends on the time and emotional energy you have within yourself as a parent to handle the kid's irritation and continuous crying before he/she can be consoled. Technology makes it easier no doubt, but we need to balance the act and help them grow into an all-around personality human being. We need to be aware of the consequences technology and online content might bring on their young minds though you can use the same technology to develop their minds with right discipline, awareness and education. It all depends on ME and YOU lovely Parents to the little Angels!
Cheers!!!
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