Last week I wrote about how electronics are effecting our kids and in some cases are causing them to actually become psychotic. If you haven’t read it yet, you can do so here.
As a result my wife, SO, and I sat down and discussed our options. We decided that the best way to help Jay, and ourselves, was to reduce all of our electronics usage. What this means, is that when Jay is around we also stop playing games on our phones and iPads, and any other electronic devices. We haven’t even turned on the TV once since we made the decision. The only time we pick up and use our phones is for calls and messages.
So, what do we do instead? After we help Jay with his homework, we sit around and do family activities. Several nights we did experiments, like shaving foam clouds. If you haven’t done this one, you fill a jar most of the way up with water and then spray shaving foam over the top. Then you take some water in another container and colour it with food dye. Then use a pipette or something similar to drip the coloured water over the shaving cream util it leaks down not the water below.
We’ve done these types of experiments a few times with Jay and he has enjoyed them immensely. Other times we’ve played games, like monopoly, or just read books. A couple of days, I’ve come home and just sat back with a book, and Jay has followed suit, grabbing one of his own books and sat down to read beside me. Of course his favourite for this has been his pokemon book, but he has opened a couple of others too.
So, how have the results been? For SO and I would have to say we haven’t felt any difference in ourselves. But for Jay, he seems happier and more relaxed, and generally more agreeable. It’s surprising how such a relatively small change can have such a quick result, but it does seem to be helping. Only time will tell how it goes in the long term, but I’ll give further updates as we go along.