So, your kids must love the iPad?” I asked Mr. Jobs, trying to change the subject. The company’s first tablet was just hitting the shelves. “They haven’t used it,” he told me. “We limit how much technology our kids use at home.” I’m sure I responded with a gasp and dumbfounded silence. I had imagined the Jobs’s household was like a nerd’s paradise: that the walls were giant touch screens, the dining table was made from tiles of iPads and that iPods were handed out to guests like chocolates on a pillow. Nope, Mr. Jobs told me, not even close. From Silicon Valley and beyond in the professional technology world, the same message is being given--screen use needs to be carefully managed, definitely limited, and displaced often by hands on, sensory and language rich, relationship based experiences. Read on for more insight... And then I encourage you to reflect on what is working well in your home to create a healthy balance and lots of time for hands on, sensory and language rich, relationship based experiences...for yourself, as well! Make it a screen-free weekend! Instead--play tag, bake, build a blanket fort, find a refrigerator box and plunk it in your living room, read read read, make popcorn, cook smores, paint, draw, squish playdough, study the stars, watch the clouds, play hide and seek, roll down a hill, go to a playground, check out the library and all the books, take a walk... Enjoy! Alice
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 15:24:18 +0000