Teaching Tuesday / Screen Fast? WHAT?!?!😮😧🥴

Hold the phone!!! 📞Don’t throw it at me! Seriously! Before you think about doing that please bear with me & hear my heart!

We had a little fall festival this past Saturday at the house. Ruth had headed up a get together to just let the kids have fun. Those that could come had a blast! The children had to come up with their on booth or game, decorations & prizes, and had to supervise their own activity.

We had Elijah & cousin Michael’s dart throwing contest, Ruth’s pumpkin punch game, Olivia’s lemonade & pumpkin juice stand, and a fall candies table laden with Janiah’s crispy hay bales, fresh picked Oreo apples, chocolate cow patties, & mini pumpkins. After supper, we rounded off our celebration with granddaughter Britsadie leading us in an old-fashioned classic game of Bingo complete with her homemade prizes that she created for the winners!

Now you may be asking, “What in the world does that have to do with screens?” ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!! No child was playing videos games, talking on the phone, or watching TV! They all survived several hours without any screens, and nobody realized it or even mentioned it?

My point! Our kids may scream pretty loud when we say Screen Break, but it seriously won’t kill them. Just the opposite, it will help them & rest their brains in a good way!

I’m working alongside a clinical psychologist in Atlanta who was sharing with me about a newly recognized condition called Electronic Screen Syndrome (ESS)! I’m going to give you a short layman’s definition of this almost unrecognized disorder that children are experiencing with alarming increase. ESS occurs when the child or teen’s nervous system is overstimulated by excessive screen time. This overstimulation influences a child's behavior, focus, and even their moods. There are an extreme range of symptoms ranging from irritability , excessive tantrums, and even insomnia just to name a few.

And if just the ESS wasn't enough, I counsel parents almost every week that their child has figured out how to go over, under, and around parental blocks on phones, TVs, and tablets to engage in the horrific pornography that's available on line! Combine that with the pedophiles cruising the internet posing as young persons trying to entice your innocent child to meet up somewhere had hang out, and technology takes on whole different nightmarish quality. I shudder to even think of the horrendous stories that unfold on a daily basis.

No parent in their right minds would think twice about stopping a child from eating too much candy. We are old enough and wise enough to know that excessive amounts of candy has harmful consequences. Well, I'm here to tell you, if you haven't heard already, so will excessive amounts of screen time in any form.

PARENTS BEWARE!!! SCREENS ARE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS especially left unmonitored and unsupervised in quality and quantity!

Yes, I know that all technology isn't evil, but we have got to wake up to the dangers that do exist and guard our precious children. Please , for your dear child's sake, limit the amount of time that they are on screens, be aware and be vigilant. Our sweet children only get to be children once. Let's guard them as if their lives depended on it , because it very well could.

Our 'NO' to a screen is not going to kill them regardless of how much them moan and groan, but our negligence in regards to screens very well could. If we aren't going to fast from screens, then we, as parents, as least need to limit screen time and monitor extremely closely what they are viewing.

Granddaughter Analise even got into the Bingo, and says Yes and Amen to Nonnie's teaching!

#TeachingTuesday #ScreenFast #GuardOurChildren