If you can’t get the Grands to turn the tech off, give tech purpose! Tech is a blessing and a curse all rolled into one compact, handheld device. With it, our Grands can explore things we never knew about as children, both good and bad if parental control is not exercised. But it’s so addictive. I confess sometimes I struggle to disconnect from my phone. It’s just so easy to do a quick email check then get sucked into trying to clear the inbox, looking at my pictures, browsing Facebook, or shopping. Yup, those are my tech addictions.
Back to the Grands… there are times we say, “no tech.” Then we play games or insist on verbal communication, there are also times when we, as grandparents, can put tech to work.
Giving Tech Purpose When Grands Won’t Turn it Off
Have your Grands teach you how to do something like playing their favorite game, look up the answer to a question, or how to do a certain function on the smartphone. Through this time they learn about communicating instructions, feel important since they are teaching you something, and you may pick up some new skills.
Have a world globe in the room and let them choose a random spot, then research it. Ask them about the animals in that country or the weather, or the geography. You’ll all learn.
After researching a place from the above suggestion, see if you can find a virtual tour of the places you study. Seeing the world is super easy with tech in our palms.
For young grandchildren, purchase a subscription to a learning program like ABCMouse.com. We did this for several years while our grandchildren were young and the games were great for learning to count, ABCs, and math. (They are not a sponsor of this post.)
Tech can be an irritant, but it’s a part of life and will be important to the success of our Grands. Take advantage of the opportunities it provides to have teaching time and fun adventures with your Grands at any age.
Let us know in the comments how you give tech purpose when your Grands come to visit!