Comments on: Oh those technology obsessed neglectful parents…

By: Liz W

Liz W — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 05:35:00 +0000

What a wonderful post. And, the image is spot on!

Everyone seems to have an opinion on what the ideal parenting method really is (and so many people offer their unsolicited opinions), but in reality, what works for you and your family is what matters.

There has to be a balance you can find with regards to technology and its use around your children. Whether you are at home or working outside of the home, it isn’t realistic to never check email, be online, look at your BlackBerry, etc when children are around — and it shouldn’t be expected. It isn’t realistic for all the responsibilities parents have to take care of (cleaning, cooking, paying bills, buying groceries, etc.) to just magically be completed when the kids aren’t around — somehow, that isn’t expected.

As our kids grow up, technology is only going to become more pervasive. Rather than declare that it’s all bad, this is our opportunity as parents to help our kids learn some balance between the use of it and the other aspects of our/their lives.

By: Kellie

Kellie — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 05:11:16 +0000

You’ve articulated this so well. Thanks for putting into words for the rest of us. Great post

By: Wombi

Wombi — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 00:53:39 +0000

I am a strong believer that technology not only makes the learning process much more fun, but it also creates allows a more hands-on experience for kids!

By: Math Sucks! (…if it requires you to balance shaming equations) — PhD in Parenting

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 03:35:26 +0000

[...] people for their choices or their actions. I’ve written about this before as it relates to parents’ use of technology and as it relates to breastfeeding promotion and drunk driving ads. Simply telling people what to [...]

By: ExpatB

ExpatB — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 15:14:09 +0000

Yes, I know the feeling, my husband is like that. It drives me absolutely insane. It’s heartbreaking to hear a small child yell “daddy! daddy!” hundreds of times a day to try to grab his attention. And there’s nothing I can do about it!
If he sits down at the dinner table next to the kid, and dinner takes 1 extra minute to get to the table, he gets on the iPad… he is NOT talking to the kid.
I am trying not to be judgmental, I’m a techie mom, I am a blogger mom… but these portable devices ensure that anyone who has a tendency to overdo it, can do so way too easily.
I see moms on cell phone while pushing strollers all day, every day… I see mommies on their ipads/iphones on the playground while their kids are happily eating sand.
It seems like where I live, no one knows when to stop and unplug.

By: Young Mom

Young Mom — Tue, 10 May 2011 18:55:54 +0000

I agree for the most part. I am a stay at home mom, and my online community keeps me sane. Email actually sucks up less time than phone calls anyways. That being said, my husband remembers his Dad always being on his cell phone, at the dinner table, at bedtime, on vacation, all the time. His dad now has an I-phone and he is always playing around with it and will answer it no matter who is calling him even if he is in the middle of a sentence. When they come to visit us and their grandkids, one of the first things he does is plug in his laptop. It’s a weird dynamic of the person being physically there, but mentally gone. And it can be frustrating, expecially for a kid who is always being put after technology.

By: FamilySqueeze

FamilySqueeze — Tue, 10 May 2011 15:31:28 +0000

It is quite hard to live up to our own expectations of ideal parenthood, especially as it relates to our use of technology. I have seen both benefits and disadvantages to the wide use of technology in parenting. My inclination is to believe that for us parents, moderation is key. However, just as we limit children’s abilities to consume alcohol, or cigarettes, or even the purchasing of lottery tickets, it is also important to limit children’s access to technology until they can better understand the power and magnitude of the tool they are using. I, myself, use technology quite frequently in order to learn and share ideas, as well some sort of entertainment. However, being witness to the declining progress of children educational and social standards among subsequent generations, I feel very strongly that technologies such as television, video games, and even internet use has caused a significant desensitization, and learning impairment in children. We have seen a rise in childhood obesity, not only because of our poor nutrition across the US, but because many children are living quite sedentary lives, where they prefer to stay indoors and play video games, as opposed to going outside and riding their bikes. Also, we’ve diagnosed thousands of young boys with illnesses, learning impairments, and hyperactive disorders just because we have expected their natural energy levels to conform to our increasingly sedentary/robotic lifestyles.
No, I don’t think technology is evil, it has many good uses! As a parent, it is our job to guide our children and protect them from some of the dangers of overexposure. We not only need to teach this, but also be good role models.

By: Dana K

Dana K — Tue, 10 May 2011 13:11:17 +0000

Great post! You hit the nail on the head about the isolation a SAHM can feel. Throw in a deployed husband, an infant with a medical condition, & flu season and you have the bulk of my son’s first year of life. Without technology & my trusty iPhone, my only connection to the outside adult world would have been limited to my son’s doctors.

For the record, Klaw’s geneticist is impressed with his ability to work an iPhone at 1 year of age.

By: Evin Cooper

Evin Cooper — Tue, 10 May 2011 12:46:28 +0000

My mother is bad about this. She thought nothing of parking in front of the TV hours a day when I was a kiddo but if I check my email or google something, I’m the worst mother ever. I just laugh it off. We don’t have cable, so we don’t watch too much TV – we watch a lot of movies. My son likes nature documentaries and those invariably lead to questions that I can’t answer. I don’t drive so a trip to the library is an ordeal – thank God for google. We look tons of stuff up, watch clips on YouTube, and learn tons. He’ll tell you things about spiders that you NEVER wanted to know.

And because I don’t drive, I’m home with 3 kids, 2 of them under two, 1 in school, all day, 30 miles from town, all alone. If I didn’t have Facebook, I’d go nuts. Andrea Yates nuts. My online “mommy mafia” as my honey puts it keeps me sane and gives me a place to vent. I’m not playing Farmville while my family starves or racking up credit real life card debt playing Mafia Wars, I’m looking up how to cook barley because a blog I read last week says it’s super healthy so I bought some and now don’t know what the hell to do with it. I’m looking up info on the lime green poop in my newborn’s diaper to see if she needs a trip to the ER or if I just need to eat fewer bananas. And yeah, sometimes I’m watching Glee or a stupid YouTube video of babies dancing to Beyonce. But my kids are fed and clean and smarter than most so I’m good.

By: phdinparenting

phdinparenting — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 16:25:24 +0000

Candace:

I didn’t think you were vilifying anyone. I was just trying to explain what I meant by necessary.