One of the many benefits to living a sober life is the ability to be fully present. I was at Dunkin Donuts with my kids for a post school surprise treat and I got to watch them playing in the rock garden. My youngest was taking twigs, rocks and leaves and making a sculpture. My oldest was building a rock castle. And I have to think to myself how many of these moments are we missing when we are tied to our phones. We all do it. The mindless scrolling that afterall isn’t to mindless. I have always had a love hate relationship with social media I love pics and quotes but cannot stand the complaining or political bashing. I realize we all have freedom of speech and some take it to the extreme so I try to ignore the rants and overshares and focus on the good. But today as I watched my kids play so innocently I am thinking I’d be ok if they never had social media I want them to explore, be innocent, create, innovate, try and fail or try and succeed but I don’t want them comparing or getting consumed by the barrage of opinions or their peers because as we all know kids are way more impressionable than adults. They crave to identify, and be liked, and may go to extremes to achieve this. I remember always trying to fit in. I have read many articles about kids behavior and emotional stability being deeply effected by lack of parental attention and too much stimulation.
So I try to be as old fashioned and grounded a parent as possible, I was raised without cell phones or the internet we also only had 1 tv and at times had no cable and I think I may have had a more simple childhood from that aspect. There were other stressors but that was not one of them I rode my bike far and played outside a lot even as a teenager. Kids now awadays are tied to video games, cell phones and TV’s how much stimulation is too much?
SO the next time you have the opportunity to be with your kid put the phone down and just be present. Trust me they are watching everything you do.
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