Technology and Children

I just blew up my own blog by posting so much but this topic is something that I have been thinking about the last few days. I know that I am probably going to sound so old by ranting about this topic but it really makes me think what life will be like for my kids.

I am nanny this summer for an 8 and 10 year old girl. Not the most glamourous job I will admit, but it does give me the ability to look back at my childhood and see how much life has changed in just a mere 10 years. I am scared what my kids will do on a daily basis. Call me old fashioned but I swear that there are going to be strict rules in my house about what technology my kids are going to be able to have around. I want my kids to be outside playing. I want them to be creative and spend time working on art projects. I want them to play with action figures and dolls. I want them to go to camps and I want them to be friends with all the kids in the neighborhood. Birmingham, Alabama was definitely not my favorite place to live in my childhood but I will give it credit for the fact that I remember my summer days being full of stuff other than technology. It makes me wonder how other people my age are going to treat their children as well. Are we going to feel the need to keep up with technology or will we take a step back and remember what we did in our childhood and hope that our children have as much fun?

Why I bring this subject up is because as a nanny I have started to despise television! I don't want to see another episode of Disney and Nick's most recent show. I have been trying to get my girls to do other things and some days they will agree to leave the television off. I have come to realize that television is not the evil any more. They can sit around all day and play on their dad's iPad or plug themselves into their iPods never even realizing that the television is off or that their nanny is asking them what they want for lunch. There have actual been times when they have said no to play outside with their friends because they are more absorbed in the game in front of them.

I want to be a working mother but I have come to realize that means that I will have to spend a good amount of time away from my children. I am going to make sure that my nanny has all the resources that she needs to make sure that my children do other things besides becoming nombie like figures in front of an electronic device. Call me an irrational future parent but remember those days when your parents told you to do something else besides sit in front of the television. Think about all the fun we had trying to find something else to do and none of the technology that exist today was at our disposel.