Electronic Babysitting

     Wee Ones With Electronic Babysitters

     How many of you have seen wee ones out and about with an electronic device stuck in their chubby little hand?  Out to eat and there sits a tiny tot not even out of diapers, with a tablet, phone or some electronic device with their eyeballs glued to it!  What the heck people!?

     What happened to socializing with our wee ones?  What about sitting at a restaurant and talking aloud with each other and with the wee lads and lasses, about anything and everything!?   What happened to feeding them crackers, and playing the drop and fetch toy game, in order to pass the time waiting on your food?  Have people just given up on basic parenting?

     Most little ones I come into contact with lately, do not speak correctly.  It seems they lack the skills of basic communication, that all children used to have.  I mean ...a three-year-old that cannot converse in complete sentences, or even at a level that most people can understand, is what I am continually seeing!  Inevitably those children have a tablet or phone entertaining them, a large percentage of the time.  Car rides, while dinner is cooking, while mom or dad is busy with something; any spare time that they need entertaining, an app or video is doing what used to be a parent's job!

    An article in science news showed that handheld screen time was associated with potential delays in expressive language!  For every half hour of mobile media use, a child's risk of language delay increased by about 50%!  I am no doctor nor scientist, but even I noticed a huge difference in today's wee ones and prior generations. 

     Behavior is changing as well.  Whether the child is frustrated at the inability to communicate their needs properly, or the lack of hands-on parenting, I don't know.  It seems these same children tend to throw fits or strike out at others more often.  They scream more, hit their parents or siblings, or even the furniture!  I have watched meltdowns where the parent melts as much as the child, and I think a huge part in it is that they never went through all of the normal hands-on parenting, and so do not have the skills they need in these situations!

     Sit down and play with your wee one!  Build with blocks, and spell words!  Read books and encourage learning!  Sit down and eat with your wee one!  They will learn table manners, patience, and how to better interact as they are watching their parent do it!  Those handheld devices do not have the capability of teaching your child the inflection of your voice.  They cannot provide the subtle nuances of your voice, to teach emotions and meanings.  In essence...electronics cannot educate, nor raise your child as well as you can!  

     What do you think parents did before social media, video sites, cartoons in an instant?  We sang, went for walks, played with toys, and even read to our children!  Youtube is great, but it cannot raise your child!  No pig can educate your baby, nor any animal teach your wee one as good as you.  Stop with the electronic babysitting, and get back to basics.