Blogs

I asked a 6 year old patient of mine, what game do you play…His proud mother replied, he plays pyramid run. I thought that was one of the most profound parenting statements of our times.

If a well educated lady can mistake a phone game as an equivalent to sport, how can we blame the next generation? Children are born into a home of gadgets. … Toddlers learning to walk know to operate touchscreens and a lot of 4 year olds’ parents say, oh he opens YouTube by himself. Almost every 5 year old child in my apartment complex had their own I pad.

Thanks to my husband, my kids at age 10 and 7 are still not given access to the Internet. We share one I pad between the 4 of us, and mostly it’s lying discharged. I allow them phone games about once a week and mostly they don’t much care for them.

They both skate, cycle, swim, play basketball, tennis, badminton,dodge ball, table tennis, soccer and of course cricket.

We try to spend Sundays playing atleast 3 games. Winter Sunday lunches are almost always picnic lunches with Frisbee, friends and sunshine. I spent all my childhood Sundays on the beaches of Vizag and I’m ensuring that tradition is followed. We do not watch television as a time pass and the discussion is healthy versus unhealthy activities.

Children are like blank canvasses gifted to us. It’s up to us what colours we fill in,how much love we give them, what values we instill. They learn the most from watching us. You will be their role model , whether you like it or not. So put on your sports shoes and grab a fruit instead of a cola, put away your phone and make eye contact while you speak with them…. remember, the gen next will follow suit.