What is the first thing you do when you wake up, look at your mobile or give your child a kiss? Surely many parents answer the first, and it is not surprising, since more than half of smartphone users check their mobile phone in the first 15 minutes of the day. We no longer know how to live without these little devices to which we are increasingly hooked, and to which we may even dedicate more time than to our own children .
We do not realize the dependence we have on the telephone, but there is already talk of the new parenting distracted or when we look more at the mobile than at our children. Children grow up too fast and if we miss their childhood while looking at the mobile screen, we will regret it. Because it doesn’t affect your mobile that you don’t pay attention to it, but your children do .
Parents hooked on mobile
We are aware of the cell phone at all hours, also when we are with our children. When we go down the street with them, when we pick them up at school, when we are with them at home, during dinner and sometimes, even when it comes to accompanying them to bed.
We do it without being aware of the valuable time that we stop being with them for paying attention to the mobile.
At the same time, the abusive use we make of the mobile is the culprit of a new figure of physically present and yet absent parents . That is, we are with them physically, but we are not paying them the attention they deserve . We are not where we should be. If we really want to share “real” time with our children, constantly looking at the phone is incompatible.
Disconnect from your mobile and connect with your children
The mobile phone interferes with communication with our children , as well as being a bad example of responsible use. We cannot demand that they leave their mobile phones if we are hooked.
It does not imply that we have to disconnect completely because today it would be something incompatible with our lifestyle, but it does rationalize its use for the benefit of our children . We could spend the whole day connected, but surely for our children we can reply to a message, look at Facebook or play with that application at another time.
Some tips to unhook from the mobile:
It is not easy when you have become used to consulting the mobile screen at all times, but we give you some tricks that you can put into practice:
- Leave your mobile at home when you go out with your children.
- Do not answer calls or messages that can wait when you are with your children.
- Place your mobile in a basket when you sit down at the table as a family.
- Silence the mobile when you are with your children.
- Set times for the use of your mobile: leave it for times when you are not with your children, such as when they are at school or after going to bed.
Your children will be children only once
Children are affected by our hyperconnection much more than we think. Instead of looking into their eyes when they speak to us, we look at the screen; Instead of getting involved in their games, we are absent, instead of being interested in how they are doing, we are more aware of what is happening on Instagram. It is normal for them to feel ignored .
The worst, and the saddest thing, is that our children end up getting used to being ignored. And since they don’t demand attention from us, we don’t give it to them either. This makes them isolate themselves, that they no longer even make an effort to tell us their things, marking more and more distance with our children , less communication and less time together.
Parents, let’s wake up! (and I also apply the advice). That the mobile phone does not burden our family life or make us the parents we do not want to be for our children.
They need our time, they need us to pay attention to them , it’s not that difficult, is it? Let’s spend time with our children, to share with them moments of games, conversations and fun without the mobile phone getting in the way.
In Babies and more | The mobile or your family? Impressive campaign on the abuse of mobiles, Get off your mobile and connect with your children
