February 16th, 2024

Busy Parents or Distracted Parents? 
          When it comes to children’s development, parents should worry less about kids’ screen time            —and more about their own.         Erika Christakis, THE ATLANTIC, July/August 2018 
      This is just one of the articles I researched to discover the effects of “distracted parenting.” 
     “Distracted parenting” is the overuse of hand-held technology, particularly cell phones and tablets in the presence of children. The rise of media use among parents causes them to be distracted and disengaged with their children from birth to teens. Parents using high tech are less likely to share family meals and less likely to be satisfied with leisure family time. 
     Babies whose parents are on their cell phones may not develop properly due to less emotional bonding. Inconsistency in positive interactions with parents may affect youth’s self-perception, leading to insecurity and self-doubt, and low self-value. Parents of teens find that if they are not available to talk, their teens may become depressed and withdrawn. 
    It is time for parents to face their addiction and put down their phones, but can you do it? 
    Parents who use their phones to read texts, or send them, or use social media while driving  with their children in the car risk having a serious accident. They also provide bad role modeling. Parents who use their cell phone while their children are playing on the playground risk seeing their children fall; doctors are seeing more children in the emergency rooms due to the lack of parental attention. Parents who use their cell phone at mealtimes are not paying attention to what their children are eating or wasting, or if the children are getting proper nutrition. 
     Parents who are using their cell phones are telling their children that their emails or texts are more important than their children. As a result, children often misbehave to get their parents’ attention by sulking, whining, becoming frustrated, and overactive. Children need their parents’ attention to learn to control and use their emotions; distracted parents can’t provide much needed guidance and become irritated, causing their children to feel unworthy or abandoned. As they become older, children become depressed and angry.  
     Distracted parenting can have long term consequences. Children’s behavior that is bratty now can lead to risky, dangerous behavior later. Parents who use their cell phones to escape the stress of their children’s bad behavior only make it worse.  
     Parents need to find a balance between media use and family time. They need to aim to be responsive to their children’s needs. They make sure to establish tech-free times and zones, such as mealtime and bedtime to be followed by ALL in the family, including parents. Children may need to learn to entertain themselves, solve their own problems, and discover new interests, but children still need undivided attention from their parents.  
     YOU ARE A TREASURE TO YOUR CHILDREN.
     Your time to love and nurture them goes much too quickly.  Use your time wisely.