Well almost - we had a TV...
Our Children have tablets, but they only get to use them for a few hours on a Saturday and Sunday at home, we've always felt that was enough. Our eldest now has to have a phone for her diabetes and would have had one for high school anyway. She's been good with it though, (I'm easily the worst for too long on my phone) and only uses it really to check her blood sugar levels and to take lots of photos (most of these in this post are hers - used with her permission).
For our holiday we decided that the tablets would stay at home. We've never had any entertainment for them in the car either other than the occasional audio book we can all listen to together (I hate to see kids watching a TV on the headrest of the seat in front, cut off from conversation).
I think it's served us well over the years. They learn to be bored and entertain themselves and each other.
We play a lot of games as a family, lots of board games, but also lots of cards. They took a deck of cards with them and we borrowed the Settlers Of Catan card game to take with us. Also dobble and skull featured heavily!
They know a fair few card games (and invent their own), the Settlers game quickly became a favourite with them as well. They seemed to find plenty to do and spent much of the time at the cabin in the hot tub!
They also had a camera each and loved taking their own photos (only one had a bandana).
The Middlest enjoyed helping with the small amount of baking we did (waffles) as well (I saw we, I mean my wife...).
The car journeys were great, lots of chatting, questions being asked and talking about the differences we could see. I can't imagine giving them a screen to watch instead of that. I feel the same in restaurants, nothing makes me sadder than seeing some children deep in connection to a screen rather than chatting with their parents. The children entertain us so much, laughter was frequent and we all ended up learning where we were driving and looking out for little bits each time.
So this post might come across a bit preachy, but I think the children were better off with out the distraction of screens all the time. and they don't miss it if they don't know it's an option!
If it was preachy, you were preaching to my choir! We too limit electronics to just a couple hours on the weekends when school is in session. During summer breaks, we relax a bit to a couple hours a day. We started doing this many years ago when our oldest was just a few years old and noticed that when she had extended screen time, she became really cranky. Removing electronics from the equation produced a child that was happier. We have carried on that way ever since.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I spent the first 20+ years of my life without a television in the house which is how I learned to love to read. That is why we also mandate our kids read for an hour a day during the summer and 20 minutes a day during the school year. It melts my heart now to see them actually want to go to the library to check out books because the ones at school are crap and they've read most of them anyway.
I've found the same, if they play on their tablets getting them to help with anything afterwards is so much harder.
DeleteAt scouts I can point out the kids that spend too much time on screens in about 5 minutes. It shouts at me their reduced attention spans.
Preach on, brother! I couldn't agree more. Road trips are a great way to build family memories. Looks like a lovely holiday.
ReplyDeleteWe love a road trip, its always quite predictable who will fall asleep. Only one I didn't like was back from the airport to home, M25 was closed and took about an extra 3 hours. We were all beat by the end
DeleteWell done Kev - and preach away. A diminished attention span which is trained at a younger age will make it harder to function in the real world - contrariwise, the ability to deeply focus will yield benefits later in life.
ReplyDeleteYes! The attention span is where it's at. I worry about my own and really have to make myself knuckle down to read big books, but love it when I do.
DeleteYour holiday sounds spectacular on all accounts. I agree entirely, less screen time is important. Today, many kids choose screen time over being social with family and friends and it is not healthy. Ability to interact/communicate with others is a key skill and not having this skill will be detrimental in the future.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I hate that choice. I especially hate it when I see families out for meals. Maybe they feel pressured to have well behaved children in resturants and this is the way they deal with it.
DeleteWe drove the kids for hours without any form of entertainment in the car, so many different games we played together, mainly observation ones.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I've band quite a few games, ones where they fall out at the end! But we do have a few we play.
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