Your opinion matters/Week #1/Cell phone addiction in children

Welcome, friends, to my blog.

Thank you for this topic, @genomil, for putting up this eductive discussion, "cell phone addiction in children". Being a parent or guardian to a child is not about giving them all they request to make them happy. It requires a lot of work and intentionality. With the kind of intelligent children we have these days, there is a need to pay attention and be careful in raising them.

And what do you think? Do you think giving your child a cell phone is a good idea? Haven't you noticed that he is aggressive every time you restrict his use? How many more signs do you need to receive to know that this is not the way to go?

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Giving children a phone is the wrong thing to do in my opinion. Other things suit their age to keep them engaged and educative at the same time. I have been a victim of giving my children phone whenever I am busy and don't want them to disturb me but at some point, I noticed they were becoming additive that even in public places they want my phone to play games, they learnt my unlocking key which I never thought them, sometimes when I want my phone back from them they beg for more time as if their life depends on it.

In that case, with these little signs, I noticed, I knew it would become worse than that if I didn't stop earlier. So I put a stop to giving them my cell phone and gave an instruction that nobody touches my phone. However, what I did was get them engaging toys like building blocks and a small chalkboard. With the building blocks, I will ask them to build a castle to see who has the tallest castle or give them a storybook to copy on the Chalkboard. With that, I keep them busy and engaged and do my own thing.

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Additionally, We do not need to see too many signs before we control or restrict giving a child a phone. There should be an appropriate age when a child can handle a phone. If they are not mature enough to manage some risk, emotions and exposure that comes with the phones, they should not be allowed to handle the phones. It is better to wait until that age to avoid such crises of wanting to commit suicide or hurt themselves if restricted from the phone when they are too addicted to it.

Please do not wait until it is too late, do not become part of the statistics, take action, your child depends only on you.

Taking action on a child's negative way of life or our subject of discussion, "cell phone addiction in children", before it's too late, will help them navigate to the right part of life, in which your involvement is highly needed.

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Our children need and depend on us to teach them right. We have to start it at an early stage because if they exceed that controllable age, we cannot do much to help them, and they, in turn, become a nuisance to the home and society at large. Be on alert always to help shape them for the future and educate them on the importance and harmful effects of some action you take to help them.

I am inviting @abisolami, @eveetim and @gracyc to give their opinion on this topic.