According to various studies conducted by national and international companies, we check the mobile an average of 150 times a day, investing in it at least three hours a day. There is no doubt that new technologies are very useful in our lives and an important work tool, but on vacation we must know how to disconnect from the mobile to connect with our children.
If you are one of those who look at the mobile every ten minutes and feel that you could not spend a day without it, we give you seven reasons that will convince you to put aside the phone and social networks when you are on vacation with your children.
1) Because in less than two minutes, a child can drown
Updating our status on social networks, checking if the photo we have just taken is valid to share, or take a look at our contacts' publications can take a couple of minutes, Enough time for a child to drown in a pool or at sea.
Read like this, it may seem exaggerated, but it is not at all, and it is not the first time that we insist on the importance of not taking our eyes off our children when they bathe in the sea or in the pool, for a couple of minutes and two centimeters of water may be enough for an accident to occur.
So, whether you think your baby splashes safely in an inflatable pool next to your hammock, your little one bathes a few meters away from you with some security element, or your older child is now swimming independently and you think that "nothing it can happen ", don't let your guard down !: turn off the phone and monitor its movements.
2) Because children get lost in the blink of an eye
According to a recent study, 25% of parents have lost one of their children during summer vacations in beaches, swimming pools, shopping centers, hotels or parks. There are several things that we can teach them so that they know how to act if they get lost, but as in other aspects, the best prevention is surveillance.
Those of us who have children know how quickly these types of situations occur. Just look away for a few seconds to tie the sneakers to the older brother, greet a friend with whom you just met or answer a phone call, so that the restless little ones slip away, disappearing from our visual field and blowing up all alarms.
As in the previous point, the mobile is an important focus of distraction, so if you are enjoying an afternoon of family leisure in a shopping center, or a picnic or beach (to name just a few examples), forget the phone and do not lose sight of your children.
3) Because in a second you can hear that of: "Look how high I have climbed!"
Imagine the scene. You are in the park with your little son, and as it seems he plays quietly with the bucket and shovel in the sandpit area, you decide to take out the phone and chat on whatsapp with your friends.
But a few seconds later you hear a distant and familiar little voice, which screaming at the top of your lungs tells you something like: "Look how high I've climbed!". Instinctively you look at the sandbox where just a minute ago your child played placidly, but you discover terrified that he is no longer there but that It is perched on the top of the slide and is ready to jump on its head.
When did your little boy pass in front of you and climb the stairs of the highest slide in the park without you noticing?
These things happen, although we doubt the psychomotor abilities of the little ones to climb, climb and do things we never thought they could do by age. Therefore, to avoid dislikes or accidents, also watch what they do when you go to the park.
4) Because you don't want to miss your first steps
And who says "first steps" says "first feats". Children are restless by nature and are always testing their limits and surprising us with new things. Logically, we drool the parents, and surely we all want to witness these special moments.
The first time he stands up without help, his first goal of Chilean, and how long he had been training, or that side somersault that he always practices in the park and that he never finished doing well. A fun pirouette, the first time you throw your head in the pool, a new and improvised dance step ... all these "first times" will be forever recorded in our retina if we pay attention and we were surprised.
5) Because the mobile prevents us from spending quality time with ours
May you raise your hand who has ever been playing with your children but not really being there! It is a situation that unfortunately becomes sometimes everyday since the maelstrom of the day to day or the need to know what happens in the world at every moment, makes us be more hanging on our phone that of the moment we are sharing with them.
But the distraction of having a smartphone not only deprives us of real interaction with other people, but it could affect the quality of our relationship with others. Especially, with our children and also with our partner.
And it is not the same to play with them putting all our desire in what we do, than to play in an interrupted way while answering a whatsapp or answering a call. Mentally we are away from them, and our children perceive and grieve. No wonder there are kids who think that their parents' mobile steals their attention!
So, if you are going to enjoy a talk with your child, play with him or do some activity together, avoid looking at your phone screen at that time, and dedicate quality time to what you do.
6) Because time passes, and does not return
Yes, as we mentioned at the beginning, the Spanish look at the mobile an average of three hours a dayHow much time in total do we invest a week, a month, or a year?
It is true that in a good part of the occasions, our mobile phone becomes indispensable for work or even for our daily life (agenda, calendar, notes, clock ...), but I think we should do the exercise of Ask us if all the time we invest in the screens is really justified.
From my personal experience I would say no. Several times I have surprised myself watching absurd videos, or browsing from one page to another without a fixed objective, simply by "hanging out". And when I wanted to realize, I saw that hI've been stuck on my cell phone longer than I would have liked.
And that time (which on the other hand, has not contributed anything to me) will no longer return. And day after day it can add up to many hours that we could have invested in communicating with our children and spending more time with them.
7) Because we are the mirror in which our children look at each other
And finally we must not forget that We are the mirror in which our children look at each other, and in this subject, as in so many others, it is important to set a good example.
If we want our children to be committed to what they do, pay attention when we talk to them, foster human relationships, and the mobile is not the center of their lives tomorrow, let's start from childhood by setting an example with our actions.
I don't know what you think, but this reflection has helped me to become aware of the absurd and expendable time I spend in front of my mobile screen. It's not about disconnecting forever from our phones, or to be 24 hours pending of our children without giving them a margin of freedom. It's about "connecting" with them, and of take advantage of the time we spend together.
I share this campaign of the Maslow agency about the use of mobile phones on vacation. Don't stop seeing her, it's just great!
Pixabay photos, iStock
In Babies and More Disconnect the mobile this summer and connect with your children; for your sake, and for yours, don't lose your children this summer: six solutions to avoid dislikes on vacation, drop the smartphone: it makes you more distracted and prevents you from creating a close connection with your children, "I hate my mom's mobile ", the strong statement of a child that we should all read, thinking about buying his first mobile? 13 things you should know before putting one in your hands
