It is always there, whether it’s in our periphery or vibrating in our pocket, we can find ourselves distracted by our phone. But when we have children that demand our attention we have to remember the impact that our phones have on them. Sometimes, can’t we can’t help it, and before we know it, so much time has gone by and we haven’t actually said anything to our children in the last 20 minutes! So with this in mind, what can we do to stop being the parent that is constantly on our phone?
Focus on Making Real Memories
You don’t want to look back on your child’s formative years and think that you were on your phone all the time! So instead, think about what it takes to build real memories in the moment. Sometimes, we’ve got to just force ourselves to be in the moment, and one of the best things we can do, rather than using our phone for social media, is to use our phone to take pictures. Buy photo frames to force yourself to create more images of your family that you can put around the home, and at least, you are using your phone for a better purpose than social media!
Look at How Much Time You Spend on Your Phone
There are many screen time features, and it shows you how much time you spend on your phone, what apps you use, and how often you pick up the device. This can be an eye-opener, especially if your children are in school and there are only a few hours until they go to sleep. If you have four hours between home time and bedtime, and you spent two hours of that on your phone, it might be time to make some changes.
Think Before You Pick up Your Phone
Every time you’re about to unlock the phone, take a second to think why you are doing this. Is it a really important task? If it is, then do it, and put the phone away. Sometimes, we check our phones because it’s an automatic function, and if we look at the reasons why we check our phones, it could provide insight into our insecurities. Sometimes we may feel that we don’t want to speak with others. But if your child is talking to you, and you are just staring at your phone, it’s important to think about the message this is sending them.
Keep Your Phone Away (literally)
Sometimes, we’ve got to make upgrades to our lives, rather than our phones. If you are having a baby this is the perfect opportunity to get into the mindset of keeping your phone completely out of sight. When it’s outside, it is out of mind. When our children are young, this is time you will not get back. And there will be a time when they will want their own phones. But in the meantime, it’s best to remove that distraction as best as you can. Because after all, will you actually regret on your deathbed that you didn’t take more pictures of your food?
