Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Parenting
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 03-18-2021, 05:53 PM
 
15,514 posts, read 15,505,139 times
Reputation: 21828

Advertisements

There was this article about how kids have been spending so much time online during the pandemic. No surprise there. Thet told about a father being upset that he couldn't pry his son away from his phone. Maybe no surprise there, either.

But what lost my sympathy was when the father said that the boy really had no other interests in life apart from sports with friends. And I thought: While he was growing up, did it ever occur to you to buy him books, teach him chess, subscribe to a science magazine for him, have him take music lessons, give him art supplies, teach him household skills?


Kids' screen-time increase during pandemic raises alarms
https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/...ndemic-raises/
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 03-18-2021, 06:23 PM
 
14,220 posts, read 11,522,208 times
Reputation: 38810
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cida View Post
There was this article about how kids have been spending so much time online during the pandemic. No surprise there. They told about a father being upset that he couldn't pry his son away from his phone. Maybe no surprise there, either.

But what lost my sympathy was when the father said that the boy really had no other interests in life apart from sports with friends. And I thought: While he was growing up, did it ever occur to you to buy him books, teach him chess, subscribe to a science magazine for him, have him take music lessons, give him art supplies, teach him household skills?


Kids' screen-time increase during pandemic raises alarms
https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/...ndemic-raises/
You can't assume that a child whose main interests are sports and screen time wasn't exposed to books, games, science, music, art, or chores. Phones and computers are very seductive time-suckers. If the choices are to read a book, practice an instrument, or surf the Internet--which do many adults these days choose to do?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-19-2021, 06:39 AM
 
15,780 posts, read 7,773,461 times
Reputation: 10993
Unfortunately for a young kid TV and games on the phone can overpower sitting down with a book. I still read to my kids every night but if they had the choice they'd rather watch TV. They are almost 5 and 7. One thing they do love to do is color...they have chosen that over screens. Screens are just addicting...for everyone not just kids.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-21-2021, 12:27 AM
 
Location: North Dakota
10,280 posts, read 13,800,819 times
Reputation: 18120
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cida View Post
There was this article about how kids have been spending so much time online during the pandemic. No surprise there. Thet told about a father being upset that he couldn't pry his son away from his phone. Maybe no surprise there, either.

But what lost my sympathy was when the father said that the boy really had no other interests in life apart from sports with friends. And I thought: While he was growing up, did it ever occur to you to buy him books, teach him chess, subscribe to a science magazine for him, have him take music lessons, give him art supplies, teach him household skills?


Kids' screen-time increase during pandemic raises alarms
https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/...ndemic-raises/
Parents these days don't seem to teach their kids much. They just entertain them
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-22-2021, 12:14 PM
 
1,173 posts, read 1,077,271 times
Reputation: 2166
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cida View Post
T
But what lost my sympathy was when the father said that the boy really had no other interests in life apart from sports with friends. And I thought: While he was growing up, did it ever occur to you to buy him books, teach him chess, subscribe to a science magazine for him, have him take music lessons, give him art supplies, teach him household skills?


Kids' screen-time increase during pandemic raises alarms
https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/...ndemic-raises/
Why are you assuming the parent hasn't attempted these things? Some kids are just not interested in books, art supplies, music lessons and ESPECIALLY chess. You can't make a statement like that as if a passion for such things is universal among all children.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-22-2021, 07:40 PM
 
3,633 posts, read 6,149,399 times
Reputation: 11376
Quote:
Originally Posted by BLDSoon View Post
Why are you assuming the parent hasn't attempted these things? Some kids are just not interested in books, art supplies, music lessons and ESPECIALLY chess. You can't make a statement like that as if a passion for such things is universal among all children.
My son is a two-time state chess champion with a USCF National Master title, and he teaches chess at 4 public schools and has a couple dozen private students. There are a LOT of kids who enjoy chess, and it teaches them the same sportsmanship skills that sports do, without the complication of biased refereeing.

It's certainly not for everyone as it requires a tremendous amount of patience and concentration to learn how to do more than just how to move the pieces, but to say "ESPECIALLY chess" is misguided. Go to a regional scholastic tournament sometime and see how many kids are playing, You'd be surprised.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-23-2021, 02:59 PM
 
Location: Southwest Washington State
30,585 posts, read 24,998,404 times
Reputation: 50795
Quote:
Originally Posted by NDak15 View Post
Parents these days don't seem to teach their kids much. They just entertain them
Big generalization. I think we older folks should withhold judgement about parents. We’ve done our job. We don’t have to be judge and jury for a generation.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-25-2021, 05:04 PM
 
15,514 posts, read 15,505,139 times
Reputation: 21828
Quote:
Originally Posted by saibot View Post
You can't assume that a child whose main interests are sports and screen time wasn't exposed to books, games, science, music, art, or chores. Phones and computers are very seductive time-suckers. If the choices are to read a book, practice an instrument, or surf the Internet--which do many adults these days choose to do?
Maybe, but, first, I see nothing from the father's comments that indicates that he ever urged non-sports activities, and, second, I do know adults who use the internet AND also have reading and music interests.

Quote:
Originally Posted by msRB311 View Post
Unfortunately for a young kid TV and games on the phone can overpower sitting down with a book. I still read to my kids every night but if they had the choice they'd rather watch TV. They are almost 5 and 7. One thing they do love to do is color...they have chosen that over screens. Screens are just addicting...for everyone not just kids.
I agree, which is why it's a reasonable idea to limit screen time. I think that in the 1960s or 1970s parents limited TV time.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-25-2021, 05:11 PM
 
Location: Born + raised SF Bay; Tyler, TX now WNY
8,354 posts, read 4,617,185 times
Reputation: 8238
As far as “guiding” our children’s interests, the only thing we do is to keep them off screens. What they choose to do beyond that is up to them: if you like it, do it.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-25-2021, 05:12 PM
 
Location: NJ
1,860 posts, read 1,230,301 times
Reputation: 6027
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cida View Post
Maybe, but, first, I see nothing from the father's comments that indicates that he ever urged non-sports activities, and, second, I do know adults who use the internet AND also have reading and music interests.



I agree, which is why it's a reasonable idea to limit screen time. I think that in the 1960s or 1970s parents limited TV time.
But, this life changing and unexpected unprecedented event aside, there is no reason why the father would believe his child would be locked in the house for a year unable to play sports with his friends. 10..20..30...40 years ago, a hobby of playing sports would have been a perfectly acceptable hobby, even if it was the only one. It has little to nothing to do with screens. In fact, some people dont have any hobbies other than computers or games.

And a lot of super athletic people who enjoy the physicality of sports are not going to be satisfied with playing chess or painting a picture or reading a book
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Parenting

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top