I agree that letting kids figure things out for themselves is a healthy thing. Some of the quotes from this article remind me of Jonathan Haidt’s ‘The Anxious Generation’, in which he encouraged parents to let their children go outside and have real adventures, filled with danger, conflict, negotiation, etc, instead of experiencing this stuff secondhand through a screen.
However, the beginning of the article annoyed me a bit:
My son Levi, much to my frustration, has never been a big TV kid. For years, I’d put on an episode of Paw Patrol or a newish Disney movie, but nothing seemed to stick. Either he’d come to me halfway through to report he was bored or he’d be entertained enough to finish but would never request a second viewing or talk about it afterward.
I attributed this to a personality quirk or insufficient attention span, until the day, when he was 7…
Was it really so bad that your 7-year-old son displayed little interest in TV? Do kids really need to be exposed to screens to that extent, at that age? The author didn’t go into further details about what their kid actually likes to do, but surely this is a chance to encourage them to do something other than sitting in front of a screen? I know this is projection from me, but it just smells like classic selfish, lazy Gen X/older millennial parenting where getting your kids addicted to a screen from an early age means more time for yourself. Maybe the author is a big fan of storytelling on the screen, in which case I can understand their frustration in not being able to share their hobby with their child, but the kid is 7…there is plenty of time for them to grow up and discover the joys of film and TV for themselves. You don’t need to desperately try to force it because you’re worried your kid has a “personality quirk”.
Thanks. I was reading the first sentence and my reaction was a big WTF - who wouldn’t be happy that their kid doesn’t want to spent time in front of a TV?
I agree that letting kids figure things out for themselves is a healthy thing. Some of the quotes from this article remind me of Jonathan Haidt’s ‘The Anxious Generation’, in which he encouraged parents to let their children go outside and have real adventures, filled with danger, conflict, negotiation, etc, instead of experiencing this stuff secondhand through a screen.
However, the beginning of the article annoyed me a bit:
Was it really so bad that your 7-year-old son displayed little interest in TV? Do kids really need to be exposed to screens to that extent, at that age? The author didn’t go into further details about what their kid actually likes to do, but surely this is a chance to encourage them to do something other than sitting in front of a screen? I know this is projection from me, but it just smells like classic selfish, lazy Gen X/older millennial parenting where getting your kids addicted to a screen from an early age means more time for yourself. Maybe the author is a big fan of storytelling on the screen, in which case I can understand their frustration in not being able to share their hobby with their child, but the kid is 7…there is plenty of time for them to grow up and discover the joys of film and TV for themselves. You don’t need to desperately try to force it because you’re worried your kid has a “personality quirk”.
Thanks. I was reading the first sentence and my reaction was a big WTF - who wouldn’t be happy that their kid doesn’t want to spent time in front of a TV?