Technology Obsessed Kids

I mentioned briefly in our newsletter last week about my technology obsessed kids and how we went without for 5 days (even with them off from school for winter break).  It truly was nice to see the kids playing and not with an iPad or something in their face.  I do monitor the games they play and apps I have downloaded for them.  So I know they are safe when they are playing. Did you know Youtube is releasing a kids app for android devices?  (Hopefully they will come out for Apple products soon).

“What do you mean there is no WIFI?”- Jack age 2

Who can relate that your baby, toddler, preschooler knows what WIFI is?  I was seriously embarrassed when Jack was 2 and we were out eating and he couldn’t get an app to work because it needed WIFI.  He says as loud as he could, “what do you mean there is no WIFI?”  He was 2!  I see the advantages of technology, and starting young, but within reason.  Being a kid, playing outside, playing with their toys and friends is also very important, if not more.  I grew up with computers in my house from first grade (1991) and our car had a “car phone” hard wired back in 1993, remember those?  Yet I didn’t depend on the computer for fun all day, even with our dial up modem and my AOL, Prodigy and CompuServe logins during middle school.  WIFI didn’t exist and if my parents needed the phone I had to sign off, so I mostly went on at night when everyone was going to bed or sleeping and we wouldn’t be getting phone calls anymore.   There was a balance back then, and a nice one.

After discussing with my oldest, he’ll be five in May, we came up with things he can do to earn “technology minutes”.  Going off the same premise of earning money for chores, the kids would earn minutes they can use on their devices.  Win-win, for parents and kids!  He is interested in time, math and counting lately so this is also working on counting by fives (our chart works off earning 5 minutes a task). Subtraction, as he cashes out his time and reading a clock to tell him how much time he has left (I do have timer apps on his personal device but regular timers work fine too).

Also there are spaces to add tasks/jobs that individually work for your kids.

Our Printable Technology Minutes Chart: Technology Minutes PDF

What are some tasks you would add for your kids?  Are they screen obsessed kids like mine?