Stop texting and enjoy your kid

I’m not a big texter at all, so it’s really easy for me to say, “Stop texting and enjoy being with your kid!” In fact, I’ve written about that before. That said, I am notorious for being on my laptop working or researching or even just reading when my child wants my attention, and it’s a growing problem that I have acknowledges and simply need to stop.

One day, we’re going to look back at all of the time we spent on our stupid electronic devices—I am grateful for them, don’t get me wrong! They are amazing, but they are not the little gods we seem to think they are—and we’re going to regret that we didn’t spend that time playing ball and being goofy with our kids. I distractedly say, “Mm hmm” a few times a day when my child wants to ask or show me something, and that has simply got to stop. I don’t want her memories of me being limited to my working when she wanted to play.

The key for me is going to be balancing work, Wood Sprite and sleep. I used to work while she slept, but she’s older now and sleeps less—and I am older, too, and cannot function on as little sleep as I once did. This article from The Atlantic outlines the problem much better than I do, and I really encourage you to read it—especially if you’re a constant texter, gamer, typer or otherwise engaged with media constantly. I also think a good, solid block of unplugging every day would do us all some good—whether you have kids or not.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia