Do you ever look back to when we were young?
Not in a way to idealize our youth, because God knows it wasn't perfect, but when I look back with my "OT eyes", I see a lot of activities that I did, and my husband when he was young, and my peers, that shaped us into the adults we are today.
I see wintry school holidays when we were seriously bored, and so we played board games, honed our baking skills, and enjoyed the creativity that can only come when there is time and space to just "let yourself be".
I see my husband who used to take his toys apart and put them back together, which has helped him to be a pretty handy guy with great problem solving skills.
I see enjoying riding my bike around the farm, teaching myself to play the guitar (never particularly well mind you, but it was fun trying!), and when we couldn't bear watching the cricket world series on TV during the hot summer holidays anymore, trying to invent new ways to keep cool, often involving a sprinkler and a sheet of PVC plastic!
All these activities helped us to learn life skills, to be creative, and to learn to amuse ourselves.
It follows not just OT theories of development, but also basic common sense, to assume that in order to develop a broad range of life skills (physical, social, cognitive, independent living skills, creativity, resilience etc.), we need to engage in a broad range of life and play experiences.
How much more difficult, then, for parents of young people, particularly teens, who nowadays need to contend with digital entertainment being, "on tap", available all day, every day?
For many young people, particularly those who already struggle with trying to "fit in", who may experience social difficulties and a lack of physical prowess, digital entertainment will usually be the convenient, and more enjoyable, option. And trying to get them to engage in other activities will almost always feel like swimming against the current, as they will usually want to gravitate back to the digital, and may be extremely resistant to efforts to moderate this.
One of the things I hope to achieve through writing this blog is to provide information and support to parents who share these concerns, and who may be trying to navigate the difficult path of bringing a healthy balance and regulation to their families' screen time. This is particularly an issue for parents of "special needs" kids, particularly those with ADHD or ASD, and I personally don't feel like enough is being done to support parents in these endeavours.
Here are some links to get you started:
http://www.avclub.com/review/susan-maushart-ithe-winter-of-our-disconnecti-51974
http://www.playattention.com/category/adhd-video-games/
http://www.groupworkswest.com/regulate-access-technology-asd-teen/
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