#inreallife #playisalanguage #parenting #grownostr

I'm sitting in a hotel lobby during an overnight trip to Winnipeg, observing my children play with a group of kids who appeared to be part of the hotel staff's family. We had spent the afternoon before in an arcade and movie theatre, both of which our small rural town doesn’t have.

After almost 45 minutes of watching my kids and the others play through the language barrier, I noticed that it was time to clean the lobby, which brought the playtime to an end.

But then I noticed a couple of kids, about 7 or 8 years old, sitting in the corner and playing on their phones while everyone else was playing together. It made me think about how technology can prevent kids from enjoying spontaneous interactions and experiences.

As we were leaving the hotel, we bumped into the same group of kids, and my almost four-year-old told me how nice they were, exclaiming how they were his cousins. They were gleaming as we drove home and I’m quite certain the other kids were as well.

Rather than allowing technology to raise our kids, we should be paying more attention to promoting opportunities for real-life socialization and interaction. Kids deserve the chance to be kids and experience the world beyond their screens.