(Daddy blogs)
Came across this comic strip in The Sunday Times 2 weekends back, and it struck a chord with me.
I laugh because I have been in that kind of situation before. And I frown (at myself) because sometimes I can’t help but take the easy way out.
It is sad to see families constantly let devices distract quality time from one another. We distance ourselves from healthy conversation at the table because we are blinded by news feed updates or kids are supplemented with a digital babysitter.
Are we forgetting the genuine foundation of relationships and parenting?
Because when we choose to focus on our device-at-hand, the status update we are sending to the someone at the table is:
You are not enough!
Not enough to hold my attention, my focus, my love, my eyes, or my being with you right now.
And I am so guilty of it at times.
But I am putting in effort to make a change. Because I believe every Dad should be conscious how he uses, accessorizes and values the importance of his smartphone. How does he match importance of the device in relation to his loved ones? For some of us, we value our mobile phone contract more than our marriage certificate. We use it as an escape from our fatherly role to lead our family, love our wife and teach our kids.
Technology is a blessing but it can hurt us too when it comes to our family. And when we are able to put it down at times when it matters most, the benefits reaped can be boundless. And that can never be put down in 140 words or less!
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This article first appeared on maybebaby.sg on 18 September2012. For more parenthood-related articles, please visit the maybebaby blog.
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