Tech-free holiday time
If you have kids old enough to push buttons you're probably hearing these words a lot these school holidays.
'One more minute.'
'I've just got to do something.'
'I CAN'T pause it.'
'I'm going to die!!!!'
iPads, iPhones, computers and tablets taken over just like old sci-fi movies predicted evil machines would. They may not be running the planet (yet) but they've got kids in their control.
And they're useful. Hux got his iPad for Xmas because we had a 14 hour flight ahead of us.
All the long stop overs and boring waiting bits of travelling with kids were peaceful - as long as we had a power point when needed.
And Az recently got an iPhone from Uncle Tim. He became a tween overnight. Headphones on, messaging his friends, taking Instagram pictures and feeling any separation from his new device like an amputation.
They love it, parents enjoy the quiet, but there's that niggling worry that most parents I know grapple with. Are our kids losing the ability to have fun without staring at a screen?
These school holidays we went to Jervis Bay, with our friends Greta and Paul and their three kids Sophia (3), Kurtis (8) and Ruby (14). The house we rented was surrounded by paddocks, bushland and hopping kangaroos.
A horse came to greet us the first morning. Hux and Kurtis came out briefly to see it and then back inside to play on their iPads. Az and Ruby were soon out getting snaps with their devices.
And so was I. The horse photo was taken on my phone and shared to Facebook before breakfast.
We had a fun first day; walking around the property, horse riding in the nearby bush. But as soon as they weren't actively occupied, all the kids went back to their devices as a default option, even little Sophia who likes games on her mum's phone. I was starting to notice I had a problem too. I was checking who had liked my horse photo, and what other people were posting. Paul was checking his work emails on his phone. We were on holiday but with one foot still in the rest of the world.
We decided the next day would be a tech-free day.
I put the phones and iPads in a high up cupboard. I was not popular.
But then something beautiful happened. The kids went out and made teepees. They slid down the stairs in sleeping bags. They played wild shoot em up games and board games. They messed around on the guitars. Us adults smiled at each other over chocolate and books. And I resisted the urge to reach for my phone and post the joy to Facebook.
On the way home we stopped in at Kiama Laser siege. For the first round of fighting I sat on my computer and tried to catch up on work, but it sounded like too much fun. For round 2 I picked up a laser gun and went to war in a maze of cardboard boxes.
After the game the woman tallied our scores. She seemed genuinely taken aback.
'Your kids shot you over 100 times,' she said.
It was four times the amount anyone else copped it. She discovered even Paul (who was on my team) had fired 10 of them!
I blame our tech-free holiday moment for their wrath. But at least I now know for sure their fun is not dependant on a screen. And now I admit I see the value in those computer games. If I practiced my virtual shooting I might have got in a few more hits myself.