Technology Can't Replace Mom and Dad

I have an international flight today as I head from Salt Lake to Tokyo, Japan. That means I had to be at the airport 2 hours early. I showed up and expected to spent time in lines. Just 15 minutes after I arrived, I am checked in, have gone through security, and have an hour and 45 minutes to kill before I leave. I figured I would add something to my blog today in the hopes of killing a little bit of time.

I was leaving the office on Thursday and was having a conversation with one of the department admins. She has two young kids and a mother that loves to play Grandma. The admin's mom wants to buy a Kindle Fire for each of the grandkids. The oldest is only 4 and the youngest isn't quite a year old. I am someone that embraces technology but can't see the logic in that purchase. The admin explained that her mom thinks the young kids can use it to watch videos or be read to. We both agreed that it is a bad idea though.

One of the joys of being a parent is reading to your kids. I used to read to my own kids every night. We read the complete Harry Potter series as well as a good chunk of the Hardy Boys mysteries. One of my kids favorite series was Swallows and Amazons. Research shows that while it is important for a mother to read to her children, it is also important for Dad to do so as well. So while we have technology that allows machines to read to our children, that doesn't mean it is a good idea. Trust me on this one.