Today’s #newbieTueday post surrounds the connection parents have with their children as they grow older in this ever-escalating digital age. Whether it’s at your dinner table or in the myriad TV shows, movies, and social media out there but the way we connect and interact with our kids is changing as the rate of our technological development continues to push forward.
How many times have we seen and/or experienced a whole family face-down in their phones around the table instead of conversing, connecting, and bonding?
There are of course many ways to reverse this trend. But please let me offer playing stories as an option here as well.
Imagine a scenario where the whole family is at the table, reticent, willing, or otherwise. There are few languages people universally understand like a story. And, knowing this inalienable truth, as the parent you design a story for your family to collectively experience over time. One that changes, evolves, lives & breathes, just like your relationship with your child. One that is molded to where they’re at developmentally, one that ho nors how they see and experience the world around them at that time. The more the family invests in that experience, the stronger the resulting bond.
From personal and significant second-hand experience, I can assure you that, if done right, the joy, the love, the laughs, and the memories will last a lifetime. The phone slowly gets put away until the story healthfully becomes the priority for the time you’re together.
So, for any parents out there looking for advice on getting started, StoryTogether is here to help however you need!