My 11-year-old son, John, has followed in his father’s footsteps since he was little and loved TV and his game consoles, he has an Xbox, a DS and a PlayStation, he was caught up in technology. This was fine. At first I didn’t care about his passion for games and TV and we live in a time where this technology is prevalent, but it started to become all that was important in his life – he wanted to do nothing but sit and play. my son and I thought that allowing him to do things his way, letting him do exactly what he wanted, was showing him how much I love him. How wrong can one be…
Recently, I’ve really started to regret giving in to John and letting him have the consoles in the first place and then letting him play with them as much when he got them. I always remember hearing Sharon Osbourne’s children say, “Why didn’t you ever say NO to Why do you let us have and do everything we want?” I realized I had done the same thing as Sharon Osbourne (but on a tight budget) Kids need discipline and routine and I had been an irresponsible parent and let John have and do what he wanted In the last year no he’s wanted to do a lot more than play with this technology. But it wasn’t his fault, we learn from our parents right? It was definitely all my doing.
Guilt didn’t help me, I felt guilty for having to go to work and not being there to drop him off at school and pick him up. I think many moms experience these emotions. And do you know that I think my son knew? He’s not a vindictive or nasty kid, but like all kids, he played with my emotions and tried to use it to his advantage, especially when he got his way and did what he wanted. he wanted to do.
As a result of technology – consoles, internet and TV – and with me letting it become this way, he was obsessed, gripped by gadgets and was 3 stone overweight. He was so devastated, how could I let this happen? I was ruining my son’s future and health by giving in to his wishes. At first I didn’t know how to fix it, but I realized that I had to find a way.
I tried everything and with some tough love things started to pick up a bit but the whole house was miserable for weeks. John complied with my new house rules and we would spend more time together doing schoolwork and what homework he did: he had a long face and constantly moaned. He, too, spent only an hour a day on consoles and watched less television. Instead we brought out board games, but all I heard was “I’m done.” I felt like I was trying to get him off a drug. We would go swimming once a week and go for a weekend walk, which we enjoyed, but that really wasn’t enough exercise and it was still apparent that when we were at home we were sitting too long. I realized that he wasn’t doing quite right. How could you stimulate and inspire him? How could you motivate and encourage him and spark his enthusiasm for other activities? How could I get him to move around the house instead of hunching around the house?
I went on the internet and searched long and hard. I was puzzled for hours, the PC screen began to blur and my eyes hurt. I really started to hate technology; it made me feel lethargic and exhausted. I began to remember my little boy who loved to dig in the garden and play with his cars. Going in and out of the house, he was full of life and energy, his enthusiasm contrasted so much with now. I walked over to the game console and picked up the wireless controller. What could I get that was similar to this that didn’t mean I was sitting in front of a screen? What could get him out of his chair and him springing up with life? So then I fallen in reason…
I remembered when I was a kid studying an older kid on the road with his radio controlled helicopter. He had a cordless phone similar to the one on game consoles. I hope you can make the case that radio controlled helicopters were a form of technology, but it was technology with no screen or monitor and technology you had to get off your ass to use. . I couldn’t help but think that this might be the solution. So I went back to the tech front (my PC) and started looking.
There were so many radio controlled toys to choose from: helicopter toys, radio controlled boats, radio controlled tanks, radio controlled trucks and excavators, and airplanes. John loved toy cars when he was little, so I decided on a radio controlled electric tank. When it arrived, I handed it over, instantly, to him. He looked at me, smiled, hung up the receiver on his game console, took the tank out of the packaging, read the instructions, charged the battery, and took it out immediately. I didn’t see him for hours.
Since then I have few concerns with John now; he is slowly losing weight and actually getting more fresh air and exercising. He plays with his tank inside and out, goes up and down, adjusting it and fixing it if he breaks, takes him to the park and over the woods. I am pleased that he likes his tank so much and is more active because of him: he still plays games on his consoles and watches TV, but not as much.
I yelled at him the other day, he was upstairs fixing his tank “Manchester United is on TV” I got no answer so a bit later I yelled “I’ve googled where we’re going on holiday this year come and see” he yelled at me” “Sorry mom, I’d like to, but I don’t have time to waste time looking things up on the internet. I really want to do this! I want to take him to the park because Carl got an r/c tank for his birthday and we want to fight.” He made me smile! Can miracles really happen?
I tried John’s tank and it’s an amazing feeling to master the movements, move it left or right, or turn it, it’s quite fast! I had a race against Carl and he is awesome and so much fun! Radio control is great fun for kids and adults alike. We embrace technology in our house now, we need it, well I don’t know what I would do without the network, but none of us are obsessed with it. I think we have definitely found a balance with radio controlled toys.