Yesterday, I witnessed two parents in the waiting room of a
dentist’s office. Both had their phones
out. Their child came out, after getting
his teeth cleaned. The mom looked up and
said a few words. The dad gave the boy a
brief hug. As the youngster tried to talk to his parents, they both went back
to their phones. He defaulted to
bouncing a superball around the office.
I recently saw a video about the power of attention. If I could remember where I saw it, I’d share
it here, but… yeah.
I do recall the content, though. The presenter was talking about people
constantly looking at their cell phones.
What are you telling the person with you about how
important they are when you are constantly looking at your phone?
Do you think they feel important? Would you feel important if you were sitting
with someone whose face was constantly on their phone? I would guess not.
How about if someone has their phone in their pocket, but
pulls it out every time it makes a noise?
How important would you feel then?
If the phone was on a table, not being looked at, not
making noise, but available to check at a moment’s notice? That’s better, but the message is still, “If
I need to look at my phone, I will.”
Let’s change our frame of reference to a child. How do you think a child feels when they can
see that your phone takes priority over them?
Talk about taking a hit to the ol’ self-esteem!
Children are important, they are the future leaders of
the free world. Children deserve our
full attention, especially when they want to talk to you. There will be plenty of years (the teen
years) that they won’t want to talk to you.
Take advantage of the opportunities while you can. Put your phone away and make eye contact with
your child.
