Your Baby – July 2019

18 | JULY & AUGUST 2019

MOST PARENTS THESE days are

millennials (born roughly between

1981 and 1996) and don’t know what it’s

like to do anything – including raising

children – without a cellphone.

Technology is wonderful, but we’re

not yet sure of the long-term damage

our dependency on cellphones and other

gadgets could potentially have on our

little ones.

Besides drawing all our time, energy

and focus away from our children,

what are the potential pitfalls of staying

connected 24/7, 365?

LOSING BASIC SOCIAL SKILLS

Children are becoming more

comfortable with technological

communication rather than face-to-face

communication, says Celeste Rushby,

an occupational therapist based in Cape

Town. She’s also a parenting coach for

Munchkins, a platform that empowers

parents worldwide to raise disciplined

and resilient families.

Parents and/or an alternative caregiver

set examples in this regard. What’s being

communicated to children is that talking

happens from one screen to another and

not from one person to another.

“A parent/caregiver who is staring

at their screen instead of engaging

with their child is communicating

to that child that their priority is the

screen. Children stop trying to engage

with the parent/caregiver, and the

communication lines begin to crumble,”

Celeste says.

She adds that there has been a marked

decline in children’s ability to sustain

We focus so much on protecting

our children from blue-light

exposure, YouTube demons and

too much TV. Yet we forget to rein

in our own screen time, writes

Samantha Herbst

‘Mommy! Put down

your phone!’