Health & Fitness
Precious Family Time
Parenting expert and preschool teacher, Dawn Lantero cautions parents about allowing children to miss out on social experiences because they are too tied up on social media and video gaming.
On Easter Sunday, my husband and two of our teenagers went out for brunch. We were seated at a table surrounded by other families enjoying the holiday together. As I gazed from table to table I noticed how quietly most of the young children were, and yet upon further inspection, most of them had I-Pads or gaming devises close at hand. How disappointing.
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As a preschool teacher, I am urging parents to critically think about the amount of time they turn to these devises to control the behavior of their children. Every minute that your child spends paying attention to an electronic devise is a minute you have lost interacting with him/her. Special occasions, such as dining out on a holiday are the opportunities that parents should be seizing to TEACH their children about social behaviors and etiquette. These are precious family moments that build a foundation of shared family life. Please think about the sacrifice you are making when you allow your child to withdraw and isolate through electronic interaction rather than human interaction.
