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Since when has your cell phone been more important than your child? I know for many of you its not. But to often I see parents out and about with their child or children, paying no mind to them with their face buried in their cell phone. For instance last night my wife and myself along with our 3 month old child stopped at pizza hut for a quick bite. A father and 3 boys came in the door and I noticed from the time he walked through the door he was on his cell phone basically until they left. The two youngest boys probably around 8 or 10 yrs of age were all over pizza hut being loud raising hell. The only communication he had with them was to discipline them. I'm not trying to tell anyone how to parent, but do yourself and your children a favor...Put down the phone and give your children some love!!! I can't think of anything that could be more important on your phone than your children. Social media can be put on hold, it will be there when you are done. Which brings up another topic, one that I'm guilty of(except social media,i'm not a member)...the use of social media and texting....Creating a huge personal communication barrier. Sometimes its easier to text or send a message on facebook, but don't forget if its someone that has some meaning in your life its worth taking the time to either stop and see them or pick up the phone and call them, have the personal connection.
Would love to hear any opinions, thoughts or experiences. Obviously this is just the surface, we can go much more into depth, but my son just woke up...Time to show him some love!
Since when has your cell phone been more important than your child? I know for many of you its not. But to often I see parents out and about with their child or children, paying no mind to them with their face buried in their cell phone. For instance last night my wife and myself along with our 3 month old child stopped at pizza hut for a quick bite. A father and 3 boys came in the door and I noticed from the time he walked through the door he was on his cell phone basically until they left. The two youngest boys probably around 8 or 10 yrs of age were all over pizza hut being loud raising hell. The only communication he had with them was to discipline them. I'm not trying to tell anyone how to parent, but do yourself and your children a favor...Put down the phone and give your children some love!!! I can't think of anything that could be more important on your phone than your children. Social media can be put on hold, it will be there when you are done. Which brings up another topic, one that I'm guilty of(except social media,i'm not a member)...the use of social media and texting....Creating a huge personal communication barrier. Sometimes its easier to text or send a message on facebook, but don't forget if its someone that has some meaning in your life its worth taking the time to either stop and see them or pick up the phone and call them, have the personal connection.
Would love to hear any opinions, thoughts or experiences. Obviously this is just the surface, we can go much more into depth, but my son just woke up...Time to show him some love!
I'm in total agreement on all of this. We were recently in a restaurant and the woman a couple tables away talked on her cell the entire time we were there. And sitting with her was her 7-8 year old daughter. It made me want to cry. Put the damn phone down and spend the meal talking with your child!
My other pet peeve on media over interaction is the proliferation of DVDs in cars. Do you really need to queue up a movie to drive your kid to and from school? I hated it when mine starting driving because the drive home from school was such a wonderful time to connect and learn about their day (and their lives). I understand the appeal of a DVD player in the car for a long trip, but a 15 minute trip? Really?
Full agreement. Along with that, video games, computers..the list goes on and on, should not be used to get your kids out of your hair so the parent can do something they need to do. I think all of the gaming systems and such have their place and time but not all the time. Take your child outside and explore mother nature, or to the play ground. Like you said...Connect with your child!
I'm of the general anti-cellphone camp, with or without children. In the OP's post, substitute "children" with "spouse" or "best friend" or "women's group" or "potential boss" or "employee" and you'll see how invasive and rude the cell phone is, and how utterly myopic cell phone users become.
I see people texting while driving, even though it was bad enough that we have a law against it here. People will blatantly, obviously, and intentionally break the law, just to text a message to someone even though there are hands-free options for vocal communication between people (some built right into their cars).
Even the GPS can be deadly, as many have heard from the guy who did what the GPS told him to do and ran his car into another car, killing someone.
Science fiction has dozens of stories about the threat of technology taking over the world, replacing humans, and humans encouraging it to happen. Well guess what: it's not fiction anymore. It's happening. We are allowing technology to take the place of our friends, family, our own voices, our legs. And it's destroying humanity. This generation of children will grow up not knowing how to write by hand. They won't know how to have one-on-one conversations with each other. They will have been deprived of interpersonal social skills. They won't know how to handle conflict. Recess - gone. Cursive writing - gone. Paper and pen and brain to figure out math problems - gone. Talking to each other in person - no longer necessary, and on its way out of fashion.
We are letting the computers take the place of other human beings in our lives. And it's the parents of those human beings who are teaching their children that this is okay.
My husband and I took our ds and his friend to the movies the other day. It was at one of those theaters where you sit at tables and enjoy a meal during the movie. They let you in early so that everyone can get seated, order and hopefully get their food before the movie starts. While we were waiting a family mother, child, father came in and sat at the table next to ours. I kid you not within seconds they all had out some sort of electronic device. They didn't talk to each other at all!! The devices were not turned off until the feature started, and they came back on as soon as it was over. It's sad that people no longer talk to each other. It annoys me to no end when people go out to eat and don't even speak to each other because their faces are buried in a device as they shove their faces full of food. Yes we allow our son to take his DS in the car, but it stays in the car when we go inside to eat, shop, see a movie or whatever we are doing.
I'm in total agreement on all of this. We were recently in a restaurant and the woman a couple tables away talked on her cell the entire time we were there. And sitting with her was her 7-8 year old daughter. It made me want to cry. Put the damn phone down and spend the meal talking with your child!
My other pet peeve on media over interaction is the proliferation of DVDs in cars. Do you really need to queue up a movie to drive your kid to and from school? I hated it when mine starting driving because the drive home from school was such a wonderful time to connect and learn about their day (and their lives). I understand the appeal of a DVD player in the car for a long trip, but a 15 minute trip? Really?
My son talks my ear off on the ride home from school lol
I belong to a moms's club, we have lots of playgroups, and it really gets on my nerves to see some moms with their phone in their hand all the time, sometimes surfing or whatever while we have a conversation (and our kids to keep an eye on!)
We have a new skate board park in the area, it is right along the river. It is a concrete base and loaded with ramps. Children under 18 must be accompanied by adults, well, what do the adults do? They turn their backs on the skate boarders, look at the river and talk or text on their cell phone...in the meantime, the kids are running into each other, falling, flipping over on the high ramps, many, many have been injured. IMO, their priorities are really screwed up.
Also, I have definitely used the "play on my phone" to avoid certain conversations with certain people at the park. I also recall a mom rolling her eyes at me (which I chuckled at, because I really never use my phone), when all I was doing was sending pictures I just took to my husband at work, which I know he enjoys. So really, it's like everything else in life... a lot of people judge while assuming they know every detail about a situation, and it really can make them look foolish.
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