In Paul Tripp's video series, Getting to the Heart of Parenting, he says: "Parents want self-parenting kids." In other words, parents want children who are so perfect that they actually don't need parents. What a shocker, that kids need parents who will parent them. But the truth is, parents grow tired of parenting children. One example of this is the new, free baby-sitter, the smartphone.
Sure, there is a place for kids to have some distraction time. Kids playing a game or watching a movie on a phone here and there is not destructive. But when this is the regular default practice of parents, it certainly can have serious consequences. We have conditioned our kids to be whiners, making enough noise to eventually have the phone thrust in front of their faces with the words, "Here, here, go over there while I..." We just want kids out of our hair.
But we have created our own monster. The more we train our kids to need distraction, the more they find difficulties in the regular things of life. Imagination and play are nowhere to be found. Quiet times are not an option. Finding the thrill of a moving story in a good book is absent from a child's life. And certainly, this impacts a child's view of digesting God's Word on a regular basis.
Sadly, once upon a time there was the latch key kid. Today, there is the iPhone kid.
Sure, there is a place for kids to have some distraction time. Kids playing a game or watching a movie on a phone here and there is not destructive. But when this is the regular default practice of parents, it certainly can have serious consequences. We have conditioned our kids to be whiners, making enough noise to eventually have the phone thrust in front of their faces with the words, "Here, here, go over there while I..." We just want kids out of our hair.
But we have created our own monster. The more we train our kids to need distraction, the more they find difficulties in the regular things of life. Imagination and play are nowhere to be found. Quiet times are not an option. Finding the thrill of a moving story in a good book is absent from a child's life. And certainly, this impacts a child's view of digesting God's Word on a regular basis.
Sadly, once upon a time there was the latch key kid. Today, there is the iPhone kid.