Great article and a great find over this blog. In an article at Greenough.com, they discuss the need to “unplug” sometimes. I wrote this in their comments section:
It’s been time for parents (especially dads) to unplug for some time. It’s amazing what a difference 15 minutes a day of focused attention can make in the lives of our children.
Unplugging is not only from electronics. We’ve become dependent on things to make us better parents. Toys, storybooks, parenting videos, baby training stuff and more have been adopted by parents, replacing the chance to develop our innate parenting skills.
For some time, I have been encouraging Dads especially to disconnect a bit, learn a new to tell from their hearts and mind and truly engage their children. If you want you kid to talk to you at 13, you need to start telling them stories at 3.
As well, we need to teach our children to disconnect. There is great value in our technology but more and more, as I work with teens, they can’t disconnect from their electronic pacifiers. For a while it was .mp3 players, now it’s telephones.
Three cheers for unplugging adults! Put down the phone, the blackberry and the story book. Look your kids in the eye, reach out and touch them and tell them your stories.
They’ll answer back.
