Tomboy by Dagmar Voracek

When I brought my daughter for her well-being check-up, I knew the pediatrician would ask about her bruised up legs. To my surprise, she didn’t mention them and instead, she told my daughter good job for playing outdoors! Then she finally turned to me and with a kind smile elaborated on how truly happy it makes her to see kids still playing in the parks, kids riding their bikes and scooters and kids playing rough. “I’ll take a few scratches and bruises over headaches from too much computer or TV exposure any day!” she laughed. That statement made me like her even more than I did already.

It is almost scary to see the growing numbers of children parked in the nearest chair, glued to their screens. Obviously, there is a time and place for all the tech-toys the market’s got to offer, however, the constant stimulation and attacks on the children’s attention are not the best. Or at least not in the magnitude I see them. I purposely used a DVD player in our household as opposed to cable or broadcast television while my daughter was a toddler. When she saw a TV commercial for the first time at our friend’s house, I could see how her eyes were trying to keep up with the fast pace and the changing colors of the screen, and how she was struggling to keep up with what was going on. To me, this scene was quite sickening and only confirmed my beliefs that we do not need a TV!

Dr. Bruce D. Perry, MD, PhD, shared in his interview for Early Childhood Today how most programs, including television and videos as well as computer games, are very visually stimulating and therefore attractive to young children. “Children need real-time social interactions; technology such as television can prevent that from happening” Dr. Perry says. This past weekend we took our daughter (7) to the park and had to giggle about her confidence approaching other children and immediately mingling in. She started climbing the trees and surely enough, before we had a chance to do anything; she fell and scraped her knee. She didn’t cry, came to tell us it was all right and ran off to continue with her play and making new friends.

Whenever we plan some outdoor activity, I love seeing the happiness in my daughter’s eyes. Especially, when the joy comes from simple, basic things, such as playing hopscotch on the sidewalk, riding a bicycle or even just walking through the neighborhood, I have to smile. We are all somewhat addicted to technology. Who doesn’t have a smartphone these days? I very much enjoy having all the information I need at my fingertips. Social media is fun and lets me connect with my family overseas as well as network with people world-wide! I do, however, put the phone aside from time to time and go back to what “used to be good”. The giggles, the laughter and after all, even the few scratches or bruises are very well worth the outdoors fun!