When I used to visit my mom’s place with the kids, my niece would spend hours playing with them outside and tiring them out for us. She was about five five years older than them, but she never complained about the age difference.
Two years ago, my sister decided to give my niece a cell phone. It seemed like a good idea. My niece was in sports and was beginning to have a social life, and the phone gave my sister a line to her for whenever she wanted to know where she was.
My niece was so excited to have the phone, and for a little while, there wasn’t much of a change. Then, slowly, I noticed her texting her friends more and more, until finally, all she did was sit on the couch and spend her entire day texting. When her phone broke, it was like her world ended. She would whine and complain about it endlessly. When she got a new phone, it was back to the couch and the endless texting.
I have mixed emotions about the texting phenomenon. The alternative would be her on the phone 24/7, and at least with the texts, you can carry some semblance of a conversation with her while she’s talking to other people. When it comes to checking up on her, the conversation is there in black and white, and my niece has gotten into trouble more than once for having text wars with some other girl. You can’t monitor phone calls that way.
There are ways to limit the amount of texts she can create and who she can send them to, so there are some safeguards in place for particularly watchful parents. But then there is the whole sexting problem. Explicit cell phone pictures and conversations are taking place and then being sent to everyone and their grandmothers. A picture that was only supposed to be for your boyfriend gets passed around once you’ve broken up. Even stars like Vanessa Hudgens aren’t immune from that.
I miss the bubbly girl that would spend hours playing, and I know my children do, too. I know that the texting of today is the equivalent of online chatting for my generation, but I am the parent now. My children are too young for it now, but who knows what will be popular when they get to be her age?
I really wish this parenting thing came with an instruction manual.
Image Source: flickr.com/photos/moriza/126238642
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