The amount of screen time children spend in front of digital devices is worrying. Children don’t seem to tire of watching YouTube on mom’s smartphone, plying apps on their tablet, or playing video games on the family TV.
With so much for our children to learn in today’s high-tech world, it’s all too easy for them to miss out on practical life skills, whether it’s running a load of wash, reading a map, or handwriting a letter. A recent study by the online security company AVG Technologies found that while 58 percent of 3- to 5-year-olds in the U.S. can navigate a smartphone, fewer than one out of six (15 percent) could make their own breakfast. “I see many parents doing everything for their kids instead of letting them figure out how to fend for themselves,†says Tim Elmore, founder of Growing Leaders, a nonprofit in Norcross, Georgia, that works with schools and civic groups to promote leadership qualities in children. Start teaching these life skills now, and put your kid on the path toward independence.
They told me it was coming—all of those elderly women standing behind me in the checkout line at the supermarket, when my three little girls had been whining and/or crying and/or begging me to buy them candy. The women would smile, tilt their heads wistfully, and say the exact same thing: “Enjoy it. It goes by so fast.†Every time, I would stare at them as if they’d spontaneously sprouted horns and think, “If I make it out of here without screaming into my reusable grocery bag, I’ll call it a parenting win.â€