In society today, there is a proliferation of harsh
judgments, especially when kids and parenting come into play. It seems that the moment you conceive a child,
everyone and her mother knows what’s best for you and your child. Honestly,
often times it starts even before you conceive. {for those struggling with
fertility this is especially true. The comments of “Just relax it’ll happen” “My
cousin did this and was pregnant in a minute” etc}
Now, we are all human and are not immune to expressing
judgment. I know for sure I am not perfect, however I have learned that some of
my pre-child proclamations, well they were just a giant crock of you know what.
{keeping it family friendly y’all}
One particular statement I vividly remember and now make a
nice snack of eating those clueless words was the topic of technology and
children. I was vehemently against children utilizing things like iPads,
iPhones, and other screen toting tech pieces, but I realized that yet again, I
need to remember a) how naïve I was pre-children to the many facets of
parenthood and b)everything in moderation.
I initially began to question my quick negative stance when
my sweet little man started speech therapy. Children with special needs are
facing so many more opportunities for growth thanks to technology. How can that
be a bad thing? Not only are there apps that help his speech skills to
flourish, but there is also an amazing app that gives a voice to his thoughts.
He hasn’t mastered this one yet, but oh how it helps him express his needs! Even playing games on the phone helps his
speech, because at three it is so difficult to get a child to respond in the
ways speech therapy is addressed at an older age. For a three year old, speech therapy
is basically play time with a mission.
I’m also struck by how easily children can pick up
technology and it reminds me of some of the older people I have tutored in technology.
Oh, how they wish that they had been exposed to technology when they were young
and their brains were little sponges. Our society is a technologically driven
society. There is no escaping it {unless you choose to live off the grid} I’m
not saying you have to worship technology, but I also feel like keeping my
child from technology will be doing him a disservice in the long run when he is
stuck playing catch up. He has enough obstacles to face in his life.
Now, I firmly believe that everything should be experienced
in moderation. You won’t find me letting Gbear play games on the iPhone all day
long, entering into zombie glazed over status, but then again, I have learned
to put aside my judgment of the evil screen. Every day I’m learning that one of
my most common revelations is that, *gasp* I didn’t {and still don’t} know
everything and I’m not always right. {but please, don’t tell my family I said
that. Why? Because Momma said so!}
