I can remember when I was a little girl being asked if I could wish for anything in the whole wide world what would it be? My answer was a princess or I wished I could fly. Recently, I took a poll of my kids to see what their three wishes might be. The answers were mostly, “more screen time, more video games and a new gaming system.” I had a few more wistful responses like, “I want my inventions to work” or “I would wish for more wishes”, but the typical response was related to gaming or screen time.
This really concerned me. How has it come to pass that our children’s hopes and dreams revolve around gaming or screen time? I will ask this of you and I need to do it too. We need to put our phones down as parents and engage with our children. We need to set an example. Just like our kids should have limited screen time, we too should have limited phone time or gaming time. We need to set the example.
The weather has been incredibly beautiful lately. Go outside and enjoy nature with your children. Allow their imagination to soar and it can be incredibly healing for us as parents as well. I know a lot of parents limit screen time during the week, why not limit it on the weekends too? Talk with your children and come up with fun ideas to do outside and place them in a jar. You could pull one out every weekend to try something together. Make sure there is a variety because you know how crazy our weather can be this time of year. These are years we will never get back! Cherish this time and be in the moment! You will never regret it!
