Put Your Phone Down
Just like the other billion people in this world, I love my phone. I use my phone instead of my computer, my camera, calculator, paper and pencil, bank, alarm clock, and pretty much everything else you can think of. My phone makes my life easier.
I read someone’s Facebook status a while ago and the person said she was angry watching this mom at the park who wasn’t paying attention to her kids who needed her because she was too busy looking at her phone. Honestly, I felt bad for this mom at the park. Maybe this mom was doing something really important on her phone. In my head I was defending this mom with all my might.
That status update has stayed with me ever since and I can’t seem to get it out of my head. Every time I go to the park with my kids and need to do something on my phone I look around to see if anyone is watching or judging me with my phone. I feel as if I need to announce to everyone that I am doing something important.
But one night I was at home and I was on my phone. My oldest son asked me to help him with a game he was playing. I kept looking at my phone. He asked again. I kept looking at my phone. He asked again. I said “just a minute”. He asked again. I said “hold on.” After a while, he yelled “Mom, PUT YOUR PHONE DOWN!”
Leave it to your kids to teach you a valuable lesson and point out the obvious.
Was I doing something important on my phone? To be honest, I have no idea. I can’t remember. I probably thought it was important at that moment. I defended that mom so hard in that Facebook status for being on her phone and now I was that mom.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it is bad to be on your phone. I will be the last person to say that because I need my phone, BUT sometimes I need to just put it down. I don’t want my kids to grow up with a phone attached to their hand and tune out the rest of the world which means I need to set an example and do the same. I am doing better now at deciding what is actually important on my phone versus what is truly important around me. Thanks to my sweet and honest son, I learned a lesson that I will never forget.
