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“Get off the iPod! Stop playing video games. Turn off the TV! No, you can’t have a smartphone yet! Do you think money grows on trees? And what do you need a phone for anyway—you’re just in high school, in those days we never had a phone, ipad, ipod like you children do !” Sounds familiar? I should put these words to music, because they are a constant refrain in most homes especially with the holidays coming children want everything immediately—without even knowing quite why they even want it. “Why do you need another cell phone if you had one?” “Lots of kids have the latest one mom!” swift came the reply loud and clear! “You are dam mean, you can’t ask me such a question!” (*Note: After 24yrs, I have learned to say, “Yup, I’m the meanest mom in the world,” and shrug and walk away instead of feeling hurt. I finally caught on that I must be doing something right!) But like it or not, we are in technology driven and dependent world, raising a tech-loving , tech dependent kids — and I know I am not alone because all my friends report the same electronic tug-of-war going on at their houses. Screens are everywhere, and while they make life easier in some ways, they also pose new problems—especially for parents trying to raise kids who aren’t zombie-fied or exposed to too much, too soon. Let’s face it, the screens in our lives provide too much passive entertainment and take away from your child’s time playing outside or using his or her imagination to invent a new game because “We’re bored!” Add to that the plethora of violent video games, movies and TV shows, and the fact that many experts are saying that there isn’t enough face-to-face contact for kids today—and a worrisome lost opportunity to develop empathy because of it. I’ll admit it, sometimes it seems almost impossible to place limits around screens in our house, because, like whack-a-mole, if we take away one screen, children can always run to the next one immediately. So what’s a parent to do? One of the ways could be to actually have your child sign a “Tech Contract” that spells out exactly what, how long and when he or she is allowed to use electronics each day (or week). This “Tech Contract” helps them to experience a whole gamut of things – commitment, shouldering responsibility, focus, goal setting, listening, respect for elders and more. Secondly set an example as a parent. Sometimes parents also get carried away by the sheer sound of the idiot box that when children ask them questions they are busy watching their favourite show. Children learn a lot by observing parents and the near and dear ones. Children reflect typical pattern of activities and achievements as they grow from two to five years in their age. Parents should spend quality time with their children as much as possible during whom they get fun and learning simultaneously. Understanding the sequence of growth will make it easier for parents what to expect from child at what age, which will give large amount of satisfaction to parents regarding development of their children.Personality of a child is shaped by his/her in-built temperament traits. Interaction of these traits with surrounding environment creates the personality of a child. How these traits get fit in the surrounding environment and how people receive them is a decisive factor for how child sees himself and world sees him/her and that becomes his/her personality. So temperament based on those in-built traits is the main factor to decide personality of the child. When temperament of a child is compatible with expectations and demands of environment and people, ‘goodness-of-fit’ is achieved, that means child is perfectly fit for that atmosphere or child has got the right environment. But when it is not compatible, ‘personality conflict’ occurs.Hence parents play a major role in shaping the behaviour and attitude of a child. |
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