2020.04.15. Techie Stacie

Our typical morning this pandemic almost always involves gadgets for work and leisure (I mean, really, what else can you do when you are stuck inside the house, right?). 

Watching us use these devices, our daughter Stacie now knows how to use them on her own. Oftentimes (and especially when Mommy is not around), she would just turn on her tablet (yes, she has a tablet devoted to her, an old one that we got from her grandfather from Las Piñas) and open Youtube Kids or the doll-painting game installed. Whenever I'm free, she would insist that I join her in watching or playing. 

Father and daughter watching Peppa Pig

 

Some colleagues have warned me even before that too much tablet use may not be good for developing children. For our case, therefore, there are limits that we impose on Stacie, which she follows, surprisingly. Mommy sets the schedule for when she can watch stuff from her tablet or from our phones and computers, and she makes the most out of it. 

Additionally, we make sure to engage her in actual conversation and storytelling. We create adventure stories every night to spur her imagination and to teach her important life lessons (like how to deal with adults, having friends, how to take care of brothers and sisters she does not yet have, etc.). With everybody locked inside their houses, there's not much you can do regarding these things; you can't really invite people over or just let your child play with other kids outside. So it's really up to us to at least give her the “theoretical” lessons that she may need to deal with people in the future. 

And, yes, sometimes it is also good to just join your child and watch with her. I am slowly accepting that while our generation grew up to street games and climbing trees, my child's generation may just have to pass time using technology, especially during the pandemic. Instead of playing outside, we may need to watch Coco Melon and Peppa Pig together, for the meantime. ■