Yes..Yes I know I have touched upon a very vital subject which everyone of us parents might be thinking of most of the time...
Before getting into the topic let me share with you the advent of seemingly harmless Gadgets and Gizmos in our lives slowly but steadily.Although television came into our lives in mid 80's but its real menace started in the 90's, where it not only fast captured the minds of one and all but it captured the imagination of every kid of that time as well.Undoubtedly it provided both audio and visual medium of Entertainment to the entertainment hungry audience at that time.
Then came the turn of the century,year 2000 saw an advent of mobile phones in our lives.From 18rs for incoming calls to virtually free usage made mobile phones a household means of entertainment.Mobiles gave the mobility to the entertainment industry which was not bound with the confines of the homes.
Today Television and Mobile both have made deep inroads in our kids lives and virtually opened The Pandora's Box for them with both Beneficial and Harmful information widely available for them without any prohibition.(This is a different topic I will be taking upon in my future blogs)
Today we find our kids glued to these gadgets and gizmos for long durations inspite of our repeated requests.This has gradually become a cause of concern for each and every parent as it not only involves teenagers but (even newborns in many cases) young kids of 5-10 yr of age are not spared .
1.Weak Eyesight
2.loss Of Concentration
3.Lack Of Focus
4.Irritability
5.Getting overweight
6.Sleep Disorder
7.Depression
8.Constant Headache
There were even Withdrawal Symptoms and Anxiety Attacks mimicking an alcoholic or drug addict if they were forbade from using the gadgets in extreme cases .
The idea here is not to imbibe fear in you rather then bringing you face to face with the gravity of the situation.
As they say "Its better late then never" lets see how to reverse the situation again...after all its about our kids.
According to me following are the remedial actions we can take to improve the situation-
1. Time bound usage of gadgets- First and foremost lets understand that in today's day and age we can't completely keep gadgets out of our kid's life (Just think for a moment can we do what we preach?) So,we need to make arrangements for time bound usage of gadgets by our kids eg. We can let them use the gadget of their choice may be half an hour in a day and it is possible if we are willing to improve the situation .
2. Engaging the kid in other household activity-I hope everyone still remembers how our parents used to engage us with other household activities in our younger age .If I share my experience,I remember I was given the responsibility of taking care of plants at our place.(Right from pruning them,watering them,cleaning them with dead leaves)Dusting the house daily,Cleaning your study corner, arranging the clothes so on and so forth.Basic idea here is to keep the kid engage and make them independent gradually.And please tell your kids there is no shame in doing these chores(as few kids and parents feel so.)
3. Pushing the kids out of the house for an hour of physical activity- Here as parent,we need to bring in discipline in our lives as well,as kids do as they see their parents do.So,lets make it a point to drop to bed and rise at the same time everyday.This will help them to be up fresh in the morning,that is the time you can accompany them for an hour of physical activity like brisk walking,running,stretching,exercise etc or make them join some sports of their choice. Make this daily hour long activity a compulsory thing in the initial days,you will see gradual change in the kids.
Apart from this a very vital aspect which everyone has long forgotten,needs to be revived is "Reading" .
Let me first take you all on a trip to nostalgia once again!!
We all 80's kids do remember our very own friendly neighbourhood library which we all used to frequent very often.We all remember what joy it gave us to pick up a book of our choice and just getting lost in that fairy world of -
This fever of books used to reach its crescendo during summer breaks from school.Those days we used to frequent these libraries almost on a daily basis.I remember even pestering our poor newspaper vendor as well for the new edition of comic books.I even used to put up my own personal library once i had enough books of my own.I might be not the only kid then who used to even barter bicycle with books.Indeed those years were the best year for reading be it comic books,magazines,newspaper and our parents never complained.
4.Bring that loyal friend called Book back in your kid"s life - Now is the best time to revive that habit of reading in your kids and bringing back that loyal friend called Book in your kid's life once again.I believe this is the most vital aspect of change we need to bring in our kid's life.
Keep your eyes and ears open for our long lost library in your neighbourhood,There are still few God sent citizens who believe in this yeoman service and come up with it time and again.
Google your city,I'm sure you will find your long lost friendly library in some corner of your city.
There are NGO's who set up libraries from time to time,you can visit them with your kids.
There are Book Fairs happening from time to time,just keep an eye in the daily newspaper and visit them.
Many Publishers set up book sales from time to time,do visit them you can get good books at virtually throw away prices.
There are Sunday book market to be visited in few cities as well where you can visit with your kids and get lots of books(even books from your childhood) at dirt cheap rates.
Once your kids get into a habit of reading,(this is my personal experience) believe me their performance in school will also improve by leaps and bounds.Their ability of expressing themselves and their analytical skills will see a big change as reading inculcates new words and expressions in them.Apart from this, their memory will also improve by leapse and bound.
Their Minds will be positively stimulated.
In today's day and age when every other kid is suffering from some sort of depression irrespective of their age,reading books play a vital role in reducing depression quite a bit.
Once your kids get themselves involved in above said activities,slowly and gradually the gadget time will reduce from their day to day lives and things will improve.Its high time we minimize this gadget menace in our kids lives and replace it partially(if not fully) with the above said activities.Our kids lives are our responsibility after all.
If you find this helpful with your kids,please don't forget to share with your family and friends.
Your valuable comments are most welcome.
Before getting into the topic let me share with you the advent of seemingly harmless Gadgets and Gizmos in our lives slowly but steadily.Although television came into our lives in mid 80's but its real menace started in the 90's, where it not only fast captured the minds of one and all but it captured the imagination of every kid of that time as well.Undoubtedly it provided both audio and visual medium of Entertainment to the entertainment hungry audience at that time.
Then came the turn of the century,year 2000 saw an advent of mobile phones in our lives.From 18rs for incoming calls to virtually free usage made mobile phones a household means of entertainment.Mobiles gave the mobility to the entertainment industry which was not bound with the confines of the homes.
Today Television and Mobile both have made deep inroads in our kids lives and virtually opened The Pandora's Box for them with both Beneficial and Harmful information widely available for them without any prohibition.(This is a different topic I will be taking upon in my future blogs)
Today we find our kids glued to these gadgets and gizmos for long durations inspite of our repeated requests.This has gradually become a cause of concern for each and every parent as it not only involves teenagers but (even newborns in many cases) young kids of 5-10 yr of age are not spared .
What it lead to, was not visible immediately but this scenario gradually brought -
1.Weak Eyesight
2.loss Of Concentration
3.Lack Of Focus
4.Irritability
5.Getting overweight
6.Sleep Disorder
7.Depression
8.Constant Headache
There were even Withdrawal Symptoms and Anxiety Attacks mimicking an alcoholic or drug addict if they were forbade from using the gadgets in extreme cases .
The idea here is not to imbibe fear in you rather then bringing you face to face with the gravity of the situation.
As they say "Its better late then never" lets see how to reverse the situation again...after all its about our kids.
According to me following are the remedial actions we can take to improve the situation-
1. Time bound usage of gadgets- First and foremost lets understand that in today's day and age we can't completely keep gadgets out of our kid's life (Just think for a moment can we do what we preach?) So,we need to make arrangements for time bound usage of gadgets by our kids eg. We can let them use the gadget of their choice may be half an hour in a day and it is possible if we are willing to improve the situation .
2. Engaging the kid in other household activity-I hope everyone still remembers how our parents used to engage us with other household activities in our younger age .If I share my experience,I remember I was given the responsibility of taking care of plants at our place.(Right from pruning them,watering them,cleaning them with dead leaves)Dusting the house daily,Cleaning your study corner, arranging the clothes so on and so forth.Basic idea here is to keep the kid engage and make them independent gradually.And please tell your kids there is no shame in doing these chores(as few kids and parents feel so.)
3. Pushing the kids out of the house for an hour of physical activity- Here as parent,we need to bring in discipline in our lives as well,as kids do as they see their parents do.So,lets make it a point to drop to bed and rise at the same time everyday.This will help them to be up fresh in the morning,that is the time you can accompany them for an hour of physical activity like brisk walking,running,stretching,exercise etc or make them join some sports of their choice. Make this daily hour long activity a compulsory thing in the initial days,you will see gradual change in the kids.
Apart from this a very vital aspect which everyone has long forgotten,needs to be revived is "Reading" .
Let me first take you all on a trip to nostalgia once again!!
We all 80's kids do remember our very own friendly neighbourhood library which we all used to frequent very often.We all remember what joy it gave us to pick up a book of our choice and just getting lost in that fairy world of -
Chacha Chaudhary,Pinki,Mandrek,Phantom,Motu Patlu,Rajan Iqbal to name a few...There were Diamond Comics,Indrajal Comics, Champak,Nandan,Chanda Mama, Amar Chitra Katha, Madhu Muskaan, Tinkle,Pocket books etc to quench our thirst of entertainment...
This fever of books used to reach its crescendo during summer breaks from school.Those days we used to frequent these libraries almost on a daily basis.I remember even pestering our poor newspaper vendor as well for the new edition of comic books.I even used to put up my own personal library once i had enough books of my own.I might be not the only kid then who used to even barter bicycle with books.Indeed those years were the best year for reading be it comic books,magazines,newspaper and our parents never complained.
4.Bring that loyal friend called Book back in your kid"s life - Now is the best time to revive that habit of reading in your kids and bringing back that loyal friend called Book in your kid's life once again.I believe this is the most vital aspect of change we need to bring in our kid's life.
Keep your eyes and ears open for our long lost library in your neighbourhood,There are still few God sent citizens who believe in this yeoman service and come up with it time and again.
Google your city,I'm sure you will find your long lost friendly library in some corner of your city.
There are NGO's who set up libraries from time to time,you can visit them with your kids.
There are Book Fairs happening from time to time,just keep an eye in the daily newspaper and visit them.
Many Publishers set up book sales from time to time,do visit them you can get good books at virtually throw away prices.
There are Sunday book market to be visited in few cities as well where you can visit with your kids and get lots of books(even books from your childhood) at dirt cheap rates.
Once your kids get into a habit of reading,(this is my personal experience) believe me their performance in school will also improve by leaps and bounds.Their ability of expressing themselves and their analytical skills will see a big change as reading inculcates new words and expressions in them.Apart from this, their memory will also improve by leapse and bound.
Their Minds will be positively stimulated.
In today's day and age when every other kid is suffering from some sort of depression irrespective of their age,reading books play a vital role in reducing depression quite a bit.
Once your kids get themselves involved in above said activities,slowly and gradually the gadget time will reduce from their day to day lives and things will improve.Its high time we minimize this gadget menace in our kids lives and replace it partially(if not fully) with the above said activities.Our kids lives are our responsibility after all.
If you find this helpful with your kids,please don't forget to share with your family and friends.
Your valuable comments are most welcome.
