I think it’s hard to know when to say when with certain things. My kids’ cousins have Wii’s, Kindles, I pods and pads and phones. Inevitably, after a family gathering, the boys come home with a bad case of the ‘I wants’. What we encourage them to think about and what we have also been pondering, is this: At what point is the next best gadget a benefit to your life, a time saver, a tool that you can use, rather than be used BY. We have internet, use it and enjoy it. We have a few computers hooked to the internet, the kids use it for some of their school work and they can play a few games. But, when we get up from our seat in front of the computer, we LEAVE IT BEHIND. I don’t want to be a family where we are all in one room, each of us with our nose in an Iphone, Ipad, kindle or some other electronic thing. We still read books, even outloud to the kids, daily. We play scrabble at the table with eachother, rather than online with strangers. We are really struggling to keep these values as a family, with these internet/electronic world at their fingertips at all times, I think we need to remember and teach that God’s world is worth being present in, we cannot be present when we are constantly checking email, facebook, playing games, keeping in touch with so many ‘friends’ that we miss out on real opportunity for real relationships. The world wide web is always accessible, right in front of our noses, this world of knowledge and unending entertainment. But, our kids are always right beside us, are we missing out on them by being distracted with this virtual world and virtual relationships? Are we letting time slip by us without connecting? If we turn our computers, phones, pads and tv’s off for the day or even just the evening, will the day be more meaningful? I think so.
Gadgets and The Good Life With Kids
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