How to limit the time your kids spend on line each and every day, translated…
“How, do you limit your child on her/his time online?”, there would be anxious parents who’d never encountered such problems from before, come to me with this inquiry.
Shamefully however, my answer to them is, “I’d never put the limit on my children’s time online.”, to me even more honest, the one in our household who’d spent a lot of time logged on, the one who’s in need of restriction, is not my son, it’s, his mom, me.
I’d often heard a lot of parents complained of how their children had gotten so into the goings on on the web, too focused on sliding their cell phones, to the point that they’d forgotten to eat and sleep, and would have their eyes, glued, to that small screen, as if, other than the internet, there’s, nothing ELSE in the world worth their attention, nothing that can get her/him interested.
and this, is what it looks like, not my photograph…
And for this, there came, a ton of threats, as well as bribes that the parents came up with, for instance, you can only go online for thirty minutes a day, on the weekends, your time would be increased to an hour; if you’d scored in the top three on your exams, then, I’ll allow you to play computer all day long. But, that just won’t work, because children will always find ways to weasel, the more restrictions are placed on something, the more attractive that thing becomes. Thirty-minutes a day and an hour on the weekends then became, the Elysium that your kids longed for all day long; and one day, when your kid gets out from your control, it will be the day, that s/he gets to, do as s/he pleases.
I’d often thought, parents from the previous generations when they were younger, the way they’d maintained connections is through letters, meeting up face-to-face to have conversations; to our generation, we’d not necessarily needed to meet up, just use the phones. And for the kids now, they’d loved the internet, and, whether it be Facebook, LINE, the boring conversations with friends, sending pointless photos, playing computer games together, it’s all, medium with which they’re using, to interact with the world, there’s no good or bad about it.
At the same time, we must ask ourselves, if during the child’s coming of age, there are, a lot of other more attractive things to her/him, would s/he still be too caught up in online games? If the child find, that hanging out with friends is more interesting compared to interacting online, then, naturally, s/he will give up the online interactions, and ask her/his friend out in person. If spending time with the parents is fun for the kids, then, why would the kids not drift their gazes onto the parents from that small screen?
And still, see how we’re educating our young, whether it be in school or at home, how many opportunities are given, to kids, to develop their multiple areas of interests, without the pressures? The moment that kids entered into school, they’d become, restricted in their behaviors, and, the time to chat freely with each other became reduced to less than the time where they’re told, to keep quiet. And, as the busy parents, other than inquiries of “Did you finish your homework?”, “What did you make on your exam today?”, how much leisure, do you have, to create the moments that you’d shared?
But, if the child is interested in playing computer games, the parents need not worry that much. Since the “Arm of Da Vinci”, the operating technology came about, the doctors would often joked, that the children who are excellent in video games growing up, can become excellent surgeons!
And so, you have it, the kids are spending so much time in front of a screen because they feel that they get more attention paid to them, and, because the parents had to work, they’d often, not paid enough attention, to what their children are needing from them, instead, they’d just, gave their young, a TON of useless materials.