Connect...

So today I've been chasing my kids around the awesome maze that is the Dizzy Castle.  It's a fun indoor play place with slides, ladders, balls, air-powered ball shooting guns, swingy things, crawly things and more all placed strategically around and through a pirate ship, castle, and dragon.  I think my kids would live there if I'd let them.

Anyway, so we came home for naptime and I got on facebook and saw this video.

Yes, yes, it's ironic that I saw this video about the evils of "social" media on a social media site, I know, but the message is still important.  Our society is rapidly degrading into a selfish, instant-gratification seeking, impatient cesspool of zombies and it's never going to stop unless we stop it. 

I remember my childhood so well I can still smell, taste, hear and see it vividly... but that's because it was spent playing outside, creating games that didn't involve technology, witnessing the miracles of Creation every day. This generation - my children's generation - is losing those precious experiences.  How many of us let our kids play ipads or iphones or computer games without giving it a second thought?  I do.  I think, "Oh good, they'll be busy for awhile now and I can get _____ done."  But wait a second, wouldn't it be just as easy to tell them to go play in their room?  Couldn't I let them watch me cook or bake and allow their curious minds to process how these things work?  Couldn't I put on some music for them and have them make up a dance routine?  I could.  Sometimes I do.  But if I'm honest, it's just so convenient to hand them the ipad and wish them luck.

I need to make a change before my kids are in their teens and all they can remember about their childhood is hundreds of hours of movies and games on the ipad. I'm the one who has to lead the charge. I have to show them the way. because me saying it won't matter one wit if I'm ignoring my own admonitions in favor of more screen time.  I don't want to be this person dependent on technology to keep me happy.  I'd rather reach out and touch the world, to be a part of it, to live in it.  I want my kids to love life, to burst forth with creativity and ingenuity.  I want them to see the world as God created it, not man.

Just a few thoughts for the void.  Be blessed and connect... but to humanity, not a computer.

 Rachelle