I was up and went with Becky to take TJ to school at 7. After Denny got up and we left for Luke's after everyone else had left for school and work. It was fun seeing the new backyard playground at Luke's. Karen and kids were home. I had brought some lilies and we planted them. We stayed about 1-2 hours and the headed home. When we got home our airbnb guests were checked in. After they left for the evening we mowed the lawn and I put together flowers for the Stangl shower. Beth had brought out bibs and hair bands to decorate the flower vases.
This post is for parents, grandparents and caregivers of young children. I am begging you to please stop giving children smartphones and tablets to keep them occupied. I have been teaching Pre-Kindergarten children for eleven years and am very good at what I do, but it is getting more challenging every year because so many little ones are getting too much screen time. Through both formal and informal assessments as well as daily observation, I (along with many other educators) am seeing a rapid increase in children who cannot converse or effectively socialize with others, cannot look at and listen to someone who is speaking to them, cannot say their own names or communicate their needs clearly. Currently there are five children in my non-ESE classroom who have severe speech and language issues and several more who cannot sit still at a table or focus on anything that is not animated for more than a minute.
Do you remember when your child first smiled at you? They learned how to do that because you smiled at them. They learn how to make sounds and eventually say words by looking at and listening to the source of those sounds and words. Animated cartoon characters do not form words with their mouths...they are dubbed over the video. Children are left to try to form those words without a guide, hence the poor speech skills. (Yes, I understand there are legitimate pathological speech disorders, but I’m not talking about those kids.)
Do you remember sitting and talking with your family and friends as a young child? You were not distracted by a YouTube video, but were looking at them as they spoke to you and then spoke when they stopped. That is how children begin to learn conversation skills.
Do you remember being a young student looking and listening as your teacher read a favorite storybook and discussing the illustrations? Remember how that teacher read expressively and made the character sounds and you followed along? Too many kids today cannot focus on a basic story time lesson. They have gotten used to being entertained. Teachers have had to up our acting game just to hold their attention for three minutes. (And no, it’s not always ADD, so don’t go thinking hyperactivity meds are going to fix it.)
Do you remember playing with other children as a young child? How you shared toys and talked as you pretended to take care of baby dolls or build a block castle? Children are alone when they are playing on an app or watching videos. They may be next to you on the sofa, but they are alone in their head as they are consumed by whatever is happening on that device. When they come to school and have to work and play together, more and more children are either standing there with a “What do I do?” expression or completely taking over the center area with no regard for other children. They aren’t “bad” kids. They just haven’t interacted with others enough to learn they are not the only one.
Do you remember riding in the car and going to the grocery store as a kid? Remember how you recognized landmarks and knew when you were almost at your destination? You knew what was on the candy and chips aisle and what was in the dairy department. I regularly see kids in strollers and shopping carts holding smartphones, oblivious to anything happening around them. They won’t know the difference between the grocery and the hardware store because they are not experiencing any of it. They won’t recognize their own neighborhood while riding in a car.
Please put your phones down. Take the devices from your children for a while. Sit and look at them and talk with them rather than at them. They need to see you pronounce words. Narrate what you’re doing in the kitchen or yard so they learn some basic vocabulary. Talk about the things you see on your drive to school or in the grocery store. Ask them what they think about so they know you’re interested and their thoughts are valid. Play with them so they learn to share and play interactively.
You only get this time with your children once. Make the most of it. Please.
No comments:
Post a Comment