Our homes are filled with loads of high tech toys & gadgets! While I am an advocate of technology and learning, I must admit that this abundance of technology has the potential to disrupt your family life, if you are not careful. The real challenge is not in getting your electronic devices hooked up and running, but it in striking a delicate balance between technology and family life. How can you set reasonable limits to preserve your family bonds (& your sanity) without being accused of keeping your family in the dark ages?
The answer lies in the question..When is high tech too much of a good thing? While we all enjoy and benefit from technology, the constant interruptions and distractions can eat away at our time together. Having a few high tech guidelines in your home can actually improve the quality of family life. The following suggestions provide a simple, yet effective way of allowing high tech in your home while keeping it within acceptable limits.
Preserve family dinner: Numerous studies have reported the importance of eating dinner together as a family, yet family dinner time can be full of endless distractions such as television, texting, emails, phone calls and more. Are you willing to accept this way of life, or do you wish impose a few reasonable limits at the dinner table? Our solution is a simple policy of no phones, no texts, no television at the table. (That goes for grownups too!) It truly works! We have used this technique for many years in our own home, and are happy to report having very lively dinner conversations at the table.
Monitor Screen Time: Have you every noticed how children become irritable after playing video games for extended periods of time? Excessive time spent in front of screens, either playing or processing information without benefit of a break, can certainly affect dispositions (not to mention adrenaline levels.) Over-stimulation from fast moving games & bright screens actually makes our kids cranky. Call it information overload! Solve this issue by either limiting the amount video game playing and/or screen use, or as we do at our house, require that kids mix it up by playing with a board game or a creative toy in between a set of screen games. Alternating your child’s activities breaks up the non-stop screen time and also reduces irritability. In addition, we recommend no “screentime” before bedtime. It’s way too hard for children to get to sleep after this type of intense stimulation.
High Tech Rules: Has high tech become an obstacle to completing homework? Have the Internet, emails, facebook, texts and more become a large sinkhole of your child’s time at home? If you find that high tech is interfering with efficiency, try setting some basic home rules. As difficult as it may seem, we do not allow video games during the school week for our younger children. This way their homework gets completed without distractions. The exception is for educational computer games like those on the school website which reinforce skills such as multiplication facts, but only after homework is done. Our kids really look forward to playing their video games on the weekend, and have more time for their assignments, reading and some down time during the already busy school week.
Check Up on High Tech: Have you lost touch with your family because everyone is “plugged in? Worse yet, are you aware of the websites your children are using? We can’t say enough about parental controls and locks. Monitor Internet use by having your family computer centrally located. This way you can actually see what’s on the screen. If this is not feasible, check regularly on your child’s internet activities as well as the amount of time being spent on Facebook, texting and other captivating Internet sites. Simply put, be aware of the amount and type of high tech in your home.
These few suggestions for managing technology in your home are just a start. Find out what works best for your family’s lifestyle and technology needs. Every home is different. Having a home “tech policy” can be challenging, but is definitely worth the effort. And remember…it is only effective if parents are willing to comply too!
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Visitwww.littleones.com for our selection of Great/Award Winning Children’s Books, Little Ones Recommended Toys & Gifts, Birthday Theme Parties and Baby Basics, along with teacher tips, parenting articles, family fun and much more!
If you haven’t done so already, Subscribe Now to receive our weekly Little Ones articles via E-mail.
