Mother banned gadgets for children, and this is what happened

A writer and blogger, and mother of six, Molly Defranc knows firsthand how difficult it is to limit the time a child spends gluing to a phone, tablet, TV or computer. Try to deprive the child of your favorite gadget – tantrums and whining can not be avoided. In addition, you will have to switch his attention to something, and you sometimes want to be in peace and quiet while the baby is watching cartoons.

But Molly found a solution. One Saturday morning, she posted a touching photo where all of her children, instead of gadgets, buried their noses in books. Into the books! It looks incredible.

“This is not a staged photo.

Just a few months ago, my husband and I banned children from using gadgets. Why? Because my precious children behaved like demogorgons (a fictional demon from the TV series Stranger Things. – Ed.), And my mother does not play like that.

At first, we tried to limit the children to an hour of screen time, but this was enough to drown out their creativity, and even provoke them to fight and whine. We didn’t like it, so we literally “pulled the plug out of the socket.” At first, the children protested, but we steadily continued to insist on our own. I can’t believe that everything turned out to be extremely simple. Seriously, it feels like I’ve brought my kids back.

I’ve watched my kids move from screen addiction to play together. They even created their own “school”.

Of course, technology can be beneficial when used correctly. But after a short observation of the behavior of my children, it became clear to me that our family needed a technological detox.

A few Saturdays after the “blackout”, my children saw me reading in bed with my husband in the morning. They immediately grabbed their books and joined us. They don’t bring iPads to the restaurant now, but books. In seven months, my daughter’s reading level has noticeably improved. “

In an interview with Bored Panda’s, Defranne emphasized that it is now very easy to keep a child occupied by giving him a gadget or playing a cartoon.

“It’s hard to blame the parents when technology became available and simple. But at some point you have to stop and ask yourself: is this really the best option for my family? “

According to the woman, the fight against screen addiction was not so difficult:

“So we told the kids over dinner that gadget entertainment is no longer a place in our home. After the tears and gnashing of teeth have subsided, guess what? Everything was fine. What began as a thirty-day technical detox has become a re-engineering of our entire lifestyle. Moving away from screens was amazingly easy and resilient. After that, my nine-year-old daughter said several times that she was very happy about this refusal. “

According to Molly, the kids have learned to play together – finally! – and even on trips they do not take tablets with them, as they once did, but books.

And my mother benefited from such a detox.

“I began to better understand the talents and interests of my children,” admitted Molly. – Since they have much more free time, they develop their skills and creativity. My daughter began to read much faster and began to write stories herself. My son began to paint, and once we even organized a family art evening, where he was the presenter and instructor. It is good for children to be bored sometimes so that they can take the initiative and create. “

Despite all the radicalism of the method, it almost did not cause condemnation on the Internet. Mostly users shared similar stories.

“Recently we did the same as you did. We had a screen time limit before, but we went further. This is a phenomenal experience and we are unlikely to go back. “

“My children grew up before this addiction appeared. There was no TV in our house, and the neighbors’ children always noted that ours was much more fun. All this is because our children were creative people. And the lack of screens helped them a lot in this. “

“When we moved to a new home, for four weeks we had no access to TV or computers at all. But this did not upset my children in the least. They spent a lot of time on the street, playing, reading and painting. “.

5 Easy Steps to Introduce Screen Detox by Molly Defranc

1. Take screens out of your life for 30 days. And if the children have a “withdrawal”, then do not enter into negotiations.

2. Go to a bookstore or library. Help your child find their favorite genre in literature.

3. Make a list of free screen substitutes. This can be drawing, active games, or housework.

4. Observe and observe again. Highlight what your kids love and focus more on these activities.

5. Make a plan for the future. Decide in advance how much screen time will be allowed after a month’s ban.

After the detox, Molly and her husband came to the following decision: they only allow the children to sit in front of the computer or TV for an hour a week.

“They can choose a video game or show to watch for no more than 60 minutes. That’s all. For the rest of the time, children are more focused on the millions of possibilities life has to offer. And nobody complains. “