As we grow older, we all have an intense yearning to escape adulting and go back to those glorious days of 3-month vacations, Nokia phones, mud lamp-making, street games, and brawls. How nice would it be to relive those days when our grandparents spoiled us heartily and took us to watch birds! Remember how our parents had to apologize to the neighbors because we had bitten their kid's hand? We Millenials had the best of both worlds - we saw black and white TV sets, we also now own OLED TVs. But are the Gen Alpha babies as happy in this world?
Who all belong to Gen Alpha?
Gen Alpha babies are the ones born between 2010 and 2025. Extremely smart and inquisitive, Gen Alpha kids are like sponges. They soak up all the information from the environment. They keep demanding new sensory stimuli and experiences. Millennial parents find it quite exhausting to manage the tantrums of these brilliant kids and turn to mobile phones/TV to pacify them.
Parents use rhyme videos and cartoons to divert their kids and get some work done or trick kids into eating their meals. Is this trend healthy? Our answer is No. It is highly likely that children will get addicted to mobile phones. And then comes the new problem: throwing tantrums when they are away from the phone. There are numerous ill-effects of mobile phone addiction. Vision problems, insomnia, depression and/or anxiety stemming from cyberbullying, risk of exposure to online gambling, severe social life impairment and much more.
How should parents cope?
So how do parents make sure their kids are enjoying their childhood to the whole without whiling it away in front of the Xbox or scrolling mindlessly through Instagram? Parents need to make sure they have some family-time in which they can talk to their children and ask them how their day was. Children who feel neglected are susceptible to attention-seeking behavior. It is, therefore, necessary to make children feel that they are secure and well-cared-for.
Parents must keep a close eye on their kids and make sure they get plenty of playtime. Minimize the screen-time as much as possible and place curfews for video games. Enjoy the natural goo-goo gaa-gaas of toddlers instead of forcing them to watch rhymes and sing along until they are of the right age.
When kids are old enough, chuck them out to play with the neighborhood kids instead of letting them loll on the sofa playing video games. A few scratches and a few bruises don't matter. Have a network of trusty neighbors who can watch over the kids when they play. Neither chain kids to the house nor leave them outdoors unsupervised for long periods. Teach kids how to steer clear of shady strangers. Let them also get a glimpse of how our childhood was glorious before the advent of technology!
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