My wife and I mentor a seven-year-old boy named Moises through Big Brothers, Big Sisters, and he loves to play video games, watch TV, spend time on the computer, and play games on his sister’s cell phone—it’s obvious he loves technology and spends a lot of time involved with it. But because we don’t want our time with him focused on technology we strive to do activities with him that encourage interaction to help build his social skills.
For one of his outings, we took him to Downtown Disney in Anaheim, California, where there are numerous stores and restaurants, not to mention live music and fireworks every night. With all of the options for entertainment, Moises’s favorite part was visiting the Lego store, which offers various building stations for kids to interact with each other while building characters, houses, cars, or whatever the children’s imagination creates. The store was packed and kids were having a blast—all without technology. While the kids were interacting with each other, parents were also chatting while watching their children be creative.
If you have a child who’s involved a lot with technology, and you want them to interact and have fun without it, seek out a similar store or activity that’s unplugged. You may be pleasantly surprised how much they enjoy it.
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