Focused on the Wrong Battle
I have been lost on this whole technology thing. I have three sons who are 16, 9 and 5. They ALL love video games. My five year old tells me the only things he loves more than video games are me and God. Which is pretty awesome I think.
I was just reading this article on wikiHow titled "How to Get Your Child to Stop Playing Video Games". Wait. What? I think we, as a society are afraid of technology. I live in the midwest. It is April and it is cold. My kids are home all day because they don't go to school. What else are we supposed to do all day? The first suggestion is to set boundaries. Tell them they have an hour a day to play video games and not after 8 on school nights. That got me thinking, what if someone told me I could only be on my phone or computer for an hour a day? And not after 8?
I read another article recently talking about unschoolers and how there are a lot of stories about the incredible kids with a ton of drive. Stories of the child prodigies and so on. But there isn't a lot out there about the regular kids. The ones who just don't go to school and play video games all day. I'm sitting here typing and listening to my 5 and 9 year old as they play MX vs ATV on their XBox. They are talking up a storm to each other and "playing" as if they were playing with action figures. So, what's the difference really? And if my kids were playing with action figures for hours on end I wouldn't feel the need to tell them after an hour to find something else to do. Especially if they are getting along.
My oldest is working on earning his diploma through an online school and he just got his first job as a grocery bagger. He plays Rainbow Six Siege most of his waking hours. He also loves to go to youth group activities. Last year he helped my father, his grandpa, restore a 1970 Trans Am and took a trophy in a yearly cruise-in in our city. The car is his and he's working on getting his liscence. So, why do I worry? He is not quite 16 and already becoming a beneficial member of society and he is happy. Which is the goal anyway, right? To raise happy well-rounded members of society.
I was just reading this article on wikiHow titled "How to Get Your Child to Stop Playing Video Games". Wait. What? I think we, as a society are afraid of technology. I live in the midwest. It is April and it is cold. My kids are home all day because they don't go to school. What else are we supposed to do all day? The first suggestion is to set boundaries. Tell them they have an hour a day to play video games and not after 8 on school nights. That got me thinking, what if someone told me I could only be on my phone or computer for an hour a day? And not after 8?
I read another article recently talking about unschoolers and how there are a lot of stories about the incredible kids with a ton of drive. Stories of the child prodigies and so on. But there isn't a lot out there about the regular kids. The ones who just don't go to school and play video games all day. I'm sitting here typing and listening to my 5 and 9 year old as they play MX vs ATV on their XBox. They are talking up a storm to each other and "playing" as if they were playing with action figures. So, what's the difference really? And if my kids were playing with action figures for hours on end I wouldn't feel the need to tell them after an hour to find something else to do. Especially if they are getting along.
My oldest is working on earning his diploma through an online school and he just got his first job as a grocery bagger. He plays Rainbow Six Siege most of his waking hours. He also loves to go to youth group activities. Last year he helped my father, his grandpa, restore a 1970 Trans Am and took a trophy in a yearly cruise-in in our city. The car is his and he's working on getting his liscence. So, why do I worry? He is not quite 16 and already becoming a beneficial member of society and he is happy. Which is the goal anyway, right? To raise happy well-rounded members of society.
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