The Flame Within

Over the next couple of week’s I am going to do a series called…

Embracing “Un-Popular” Parental Choices…  The Process of Creating “Successful” Adults

1.)  We don’t allow our children regular internet access.

This is one decision we have received slack from friends, family, teachers, etc…  I’ve heard it all, “you have to embrace the times, technology is the present, the future etc…”.  If my children have a project or a specific reason for needing to be on the internet we allot time for these occasions.  However, you won’t find my children roaming the internet, building their own websites, playing mindless games on the computer.  You will find my children asking for permission to use the computer and us setting a side a time for this use.

Why are we reluctant to allow our children to fully “embrace” technology…
I’ve heard several people say my children won’t develop adequate “technological” knowledge to be successful in their lives and future careers. Our response:  My husband and I neither one had access to computers until we were in college.  My husband is a successful PhD professor at Indiana University.  I am attending graduate school for to be a Mental Health Counselor.  We are happy, we are blessed with the most wonderful children, and “enough” material possessions to allow us to live comfortable lives.  The point I am trying to make is:  My husband and I didn’t grow up with a  computer access, the latest technological advances, and I feel we turned out pretty well. We’re not enormously rich, but we are rich in blessings, and blessed above and beyond our needs on Earth.  Therefore, we do not feel our children’s long-term success lies in time spent on the computer.  We believe our children’s long-term success lies in living in the real-world, playing with their siblings, interacting with friends at church, school, and in the neighborhood, playing outside, learning to relate/interact with others, spending time “talking” to our children, good quality family time, and teaching them respect in a society, where respect is a almost forgotten.

Again, like I said, I can’t say for “certain” that this {un-popular} decision is the  “perfectly right” choice, but I can say with “certainty” that our children are well-rounded kids, respectful in school/church. well-behaved in public (for the most part), involved members of our family unit, and at this point not technologically incompetent.

This is the “choice” that works for us, not necessarily the right choice for all families.

However, I do believe there is something to be said for limiting children’s time with technology, for the sake of developing the most well-rounded and successful adults.  

Too much of anything is…  TOO MUCH!!!

Deuteronomy 6:7 “You shall teach them (God’s word) diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way they should go and when they are old they shall never depart from it.”

Blessings,

Crystal