We are about 5 weeks away from becoming parents to our little boy, and as we get closer my parenting fears have started to shift. I'm not as scared of the crying and the lack of sleep and knowing what my child will need. I know I will figure it out, my "mommy reflexes" will kick in and I will be fully capable of keeping Jackson alive and happy. My fears are now centered around how my son will learn and grow in our world of fast paced, technology obsessed life. I'm realizing that in order to give my son the childhood I want him to have, the childhood I think he deserves, my husband and I are actually going to have to change our lives first. We are part of the last generation that played outside instead of with video games, that got handed a puzzle instead of an iphone when we needed to be entertained, and used an encyclopedia at the library instead of google to do our homework. And then as we grew up, so did technology, and now we can't believe how we survived without our handheld devices. I am as guilty as anyone else, the TV is on most of the day, just playing in the background as a distraction, and my cell phone is hardly ever out of reach. As a military family stationed across the country from everyone we love, all the technology can be a blessing to keep us in touch with everyone back home, and that definitely wont change once Jackson arrives. Using my iphone to make sure my parents and in-laws can see their grandson is a blessing, and definitely something I am thankful for. But other than that, the arrival of our son will jumpstart a serious unplugging in this house.
The constant noise of the TV will be replaced with the sound of my voice. I plan to talk and sing to my son constantly. I am my child's first teacher and I want to feed his little brain with as much as he can handle. Which won't include the overstimulating images that can cause a lack of focus and attention, which, lets be honest, most little boys have an issue with already. My husband and I both have fond memories of playing outside, using our imaginations to create alternate worlds in our backyards, it would break my heart if my son never got to create those memories. I'm pretty sure kids wont remember the video games they played, but I promise they will remember the refrigerator box that got turned into a castle.
I am getting the incredible gift of being able to stay at home with my son and I plan to use this opportunity to give him the best first years I can. I am going to play with my son, I'm going to teach him things and take him places, and I am going to let him discover the real world. I know that there will be times when my patience is short and the idea of handing him a phone with a game on it will seem like the only answer. And maybe there will be times when that does actually happen, because lets be serious I am not going to be the perfect mother. But I plan to try my hardest to give this little guy as much of a technology free first few years as possible. There will be plenty of time for him to be a grown up, he deserves to be a kid for as long as he can be.
