Worrying about the iPod in my child’s eye when I have an iPad in my own eye

I really don’t think I’m the only parent that has visions of skeet shooting iPods, iPads, Kindles, computers and game systems. I can almost smell the singed electronics now. Another favorite daydream is lining up all the screens on a country road then gathering up top speed before obliterating the screens. Oh, but I could go on and on. A few days ago, I discovered that my hatred of my kids “Distraction Devices” (DD’s) has been clouding my perspective on my own DD’s.

Last week I proudly proclaimed that I have declared Sunday as an entire day unplugged. My timing was perfect; moments before they left to spend the night with their dad. Oh did I live in bliss with a pumped up ego at what an awesome parent I am for taking them back to their roots. I, too, couldn’t escape my self-declared unplugged holiday, but I don’t do much more than check email and Facebook. Not a big deal. And it wasn’t. But something much bigger happened.

After the fear of apocalypse subsided, my kids proclaimed that if they must do without for a day, they are going to stay up playing all the screen they want until 11:59 PM. And they did just that while I did last minute email checks and Facebook status updates. At midnight, like a warden, I confiscated all screens, including my own, leaving me feeling a bit uneasy.

Sunday morning was a breeze getting my kids, 11 and 9, ready for church. As a matter of fact, we were all ready 45 minutes early. We filled that time with drawing, reading, and even some bible study. As the day passed, there was hugging, talking, laughing, wrestling, playing, games, and exercising all as one unit - a family. By early afternoon, my youngest was asking if we can do this again next Sunday.

I expected us to reconnect again; we did. I expected the kids to be angry and sulk; they most certainly did not. I did not expect the feeling of freedom. I realized that I have been tethered to my email. Watching my email go from 42 to 202 was difficult, but enlightening. One hundred and forty-two of the emails were from work which caused me to sweat. Come Monday morning, the building was still standing and work survived me not checking my email. So far, I have unsubscribed or blocked nearly fifty separate publications/reports. I consider that 50 links I cut out of the chain that tether’s me to my once adored iPhone.

At the end of the day, we decided to call this a “ReCharged Day”. Boy, are we Charged! We all want to do this again, and we will in two more weeks. I can tell you there is a big smile on my face because we all felt loved and wanted. While we were disconnected and distracted on so many levels, in one short day we became what we all really wanted - a family.

If you decide to do this with your family, please let me know how it works out for you. You may need to rediscover what to do without DD’s, so make some plans ahead of time so you’re prepared. The kids and I highly recommend a ReCharged Day to move the family from individual, heads-down time to family, heads-up time.

Lookin' Up,

Shelly