Technology Putting a Damper on Kid’s Childhood

Every time I turn around I find myself thinking I would have had some sort of gadget or piece of technology when I was a kid.  And then I change my mind.

Sure, it would have been great to have an Ipod, a cell phone and video games when I was younger but then I think of all the things I would have missed out on.  Not to mention, there was far less drama without all the latest gizmos.

Here is an example, I have three siblings.  They're all intelligent kids and they have excellent social skills.  When they were younger my mom wouldn't allow them to sit in front of the television and play video games all afternoon.  She made them go outside and play.

I didn't realize it at the time but she was forcing them to use their imaginations.  They built forts and turned a sandbox cover into a "boat."  It was rather comical to see them paddling along in the huge puddle we had from the melting snow.

On the flip side I have three cousins who spent quite a bit of time on computers and playing video games.  In my opinion, they lost out.  They never had to exercise their imagination because they didn't need to.  They didn't play with other kids because they had their game or computer as their best buddy.

I'm not saying technology is bad, it's absolutely not.  We need it, but children also need to physically explore new things and new ideas.  I truly believe if we allow them to be come totally dependent on gadgets and gizmos, we aren't going to see all the wonderful developments and innovations that have gotten us this far.