Wonder Through the Eyes of a Child
Is there any wonder left in the world through the eyes of a child?
While I was in Manhattan's Battery Park, I saw something that I never thought I would see: a little girl sitting in her stroller while mom jogged down the path. That wasn't unusual, even though to my Florida body it seemed the 50 degrees was freezing cold. It was actually very impressive- the sun was out and after a very long winter New Yorkers were outside every where on the playgrounds, jogging, sitting on the benches, hanging out at the edge of the East River looking out over the water, (I digress.) The thing that was shocking was the little girl was watching a video on her mommy's phone. As we went along, I saw more children with more technology all the while sitting in their strollers. I felt so sad.
I started wondering; where will our dreamers come from? Where will the future poets roam? Where will the kids get the inspiration to paint beautiful scenery if they are glued to a screen?
It's bad enough that some children are placed in front of a television to be babysat while mom or dad does work at home or house cleaning, but when outside? I know this sounds hypocritical of me, since I snapped photos on my phone, posted them to Facebook, and Google+ while I was wandering New York, and also in D.C.
The thing is- I am not a little child whose brain is developing and fragile to everything that they are exposed to.
I hope and pray that her "fit" mother reads to her, lets her color, play with blocks and other imaginative types of activities when they are at home.
photo by Len-Matthews (google images)
It's a cute commercial when the E-Trade baby speaks and shows us his use of technology to make more money, but it's not cute to me for it to be a reality. I know that future generations will be raised different than my kids, me or my parent's generation, but at what cost?
Were we also brainwashed into thinking we needed to talk on the phone like in this picture?
I don't think a corded phone is as detrimental as a phone you can hold in your hand 24 hours a day, it wasn't portable, and you had to get off to do other things. If you had normal parents, they sent you outdoors to get out of their hair anyway.
What are you thoughts on technology and kids?
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I was incensed the other day at the idea of legislation against hand-held device usage by children. At the same time, I'm a bit incredulous that people think this is okay. Our early exposure to the world and our surroundings should be as tactile as possible. And any screentime a child does have should be side by side with a parent. I remember when we first got a computer, our kids had learning software that we all just loved. But never would we have just left them alone with it as a panacea of some kind. And none of them had hand-held devices until they were 13.
ReplyDeleteI do agree Lily that it isn't any governments role to control what we do with our children. I definitely agree that children should have tactile experiences while growing up. My youngest (17,) got her first phone at the age of 12 and only because I went on vacation. She didn't get a smart phone until last year; she didn't need it. Now, I wish we hadn't bought it for her. It takes up way too much of her time. When there are friends over- no phone for all of them. It gets checked in to our "phone basket". I am a nutty parent, I guess.
DeleteI appreciate your comments. Thank you.