mamaceli's Profile

I do think that kids have too much technology in their lives, and I do not think it's a good idea to give a kid an electronic device every time they get a little fussy. But I also choose to teach my kids the idea of everything in moderation. I let them eat sugar sometimes, I let them watch TV sometimes, and I let them play with an iPhone sometimes. This is all balanced out with other more wholesome activities. I feel like letting them use electronics in moderation is teaching them that it's fine to indulge in something once in awhile, but once you've had enough then put it down.

If we're at a restaurant, and he has no interest in coloring or playing quietly with a toy (Loora, you are very lucky to have a kid who sits quietly for an hour and a half in a restaurant! I really don't know of any other kid who will do that!), and all he wants to do is run around the place talking to all the patrons, we usually leave. However, at times I have a tasty meal in front of me that is half finished and a friend or a husband with whom I haven't talked to in a while. I see no harm in letting him look at photos, play an interactive age appropriate game, or play with a painting app for ten minutes. Also, when we want a good adult conversation with no kids, we get a sitter. Never have we said, "let's go on a date with our kid and give him an iPhone as a sitter."

At the doctor's office, my son has had many blood draws and a bone marrow aspiration. He's scared, and tries to run out of the exam room. If I give him an iPhone as a distraction to help him calm down, is that really way worse than physically holding him down while they stick him with a needle? I see it as the lesser of the two evils.

And my child throws many tantrums that are not placated with an iPhone. In fact, if he's throwing a full on tantrum I have never given him one. I wholeheartedly agree that giving a kid an iPhone every time they throw a tantrum is a bad idea. But that doesn't mean just because someone lets their kid play with one sometimes in certain situations, they give in every time. There are many grey areas here. All I'm saying is that if you see someone give their child an iPhone at a restaurant, don't assume they do that every time they go anywhere. You don't know their situation, nor do you know their kid (some kids do great sitting still and focusing, others not so much. They're all different).

I guess I fall into the category up above in the post of "sometimes, but in moderation."

I do see your points, and I do believe kids these days are inundated by technology, but I think it's extreme to insinuate that these parents are being selfish and stuck in "me" phase and not "we" phase. You don't know their circumstances nor do you know their kids. I've let my kid play on my iPhone at restaurants, in doctor office waiting rooms, and on road trips. It has meant the difference between leaving a restaurant before finishing a meal, physically restraining my toddler because he wants to run away from the doctors office, and listening for an hour to a crying kid while we drive. We wait until we've tried many other methods before breaking it out, but when we do we never regret it. I spend my days making music, doing art projects, going outside every day (the zoo, parks, hikes), cooking with my kids, and reading books. Sometimes us parents just need a break. If that break means we give our kids an iPhone at a restaurant so we can have a 10 minutes conversation with our spouse, it in no way means that we are bad parents. It means we are only human and need a few minutes of peace so that we can be refreshed and revitalized before our next long bout of hands on parenting.

We just moved from our 650 sq. ft. home with two adults, one toddler, one baby, a big dog, and two cats. We made it work, but I found I didn't enjoy relaxing at home very much. I also found my patience to be tapped a lot more when there was always a kid or animal underfoot. We now live in 1500 sq. ft. of pure bliss. It's a great size for us, but doesn't feel like too much. Like many of you said, it all depends on what kind of life you're living. I'm a stay at home mom, and need to be at home a lot, so having room to breath is important. When it was just my husband and I and we both worked out of the house, 650 sq. ft. seemed like more than enough room. It depends on so many factors.

All I can say is that I LOVE my leather sofa with cushions attached to the couch. Nothing can get stuck under the cushions because it's impossible, and I wipe the couch down once a week.

Our little guy is in a really small nursery as well. We have all of the above furniture, but decided against a chair. I'm really glad we didn't end up trying to squeeze a chair into his room, because it leaves more space for storing toys and books, and there are chairs in the living room right outside his room. I just wanted to mention that because I felt like when I was planning the "must haves" for a nursery everywhere I looked seemed to say we needed to have a chair in his room. We've gotten along just fine without one. Of course if his room wasn't right next to the living room, we may have ended up getting a chair. We also never bought a rocker/glider, and didn't feel like I missed out on being able to rock while nursing. That was another item that many websites/people lead me to believe we had to have.

We pick it up on a regular basis, then just not think too hard about any residual poop that might be lurking around for our kid to accidentally touch. We've come to accept that living with a bit more filth than we'd prefer is just part of living with animals.