The tablet generation

While dining at MacDonald with my kids,  i happen to notice this particular family sitting right in front of us. What caught my attention was actually their kids, both the boys were generally about 5 to 6 years old. They were sitting quietly at their tables, you must be thinking that its perfectly normal and their parents must have disciplined them well. Except that their eyes were actually glued to the tablets that they were holding, one of them was playing "Candy Crush" and the other was playing some monster slashing game.While the maid was happily feeding the fries into their mouths, their focus were never diverted, eyes straight at the tablet with their mouths munching the fries in synchrony. In my mind, they were just like robots...

I am guilty of such behavior as well, so i can't complain much. There were times where my kids just simply can't sit quietly at one corner and the only way to “calm" them down would be to whip out my tablet and let them play my favorite game, candy crush. Surprisingly, it worked...but what i will always do is this :

 

• No playing and eating at the same time, let them make the decision of doing only one thing at one time. Let them focus only on one activity. My emphasis here is "focus". What i am trying to do here is to build up their concentration, i have seen many kids doing too many things at one time. Have you tried listening to music and studying at the same time?
• Playing games is only limited within a certain timing, i generally allow minimum 15 minutes and they will be the ones to check the timing and stop once the time is up. I would prefer that they willingly hand me the tablet rather than i snatch it back from them. Hopefully, such actions would instill some discipline in their daily activities.

• If they want to play, they have to share. I will never buy identical toys, this will result in playing by themselves and not together. My eldest will always make an effort to share her toys with her cousins. But sometimes desires can cloud her judgement and petty fights or arguments do happen. However, I will not interfere or solve their problem, they will solve it themselves.

 
I may look like a very strict dad, but at the end of the day, what i want is to provide the best for my kids. Rather than buying expensive toys or electronics and letting them play endlessly. why not teach them your life lessons or stuffs which you experienced along the way, impart skills and knowledge so that they can become better adults.
 
Pregnant Daddy
To boldly go where no daddys has gone before