By Rachael Vilburn
This morning my 8-year-old son
asked, “What’s a 5-sided object?” Recognizing an opportunity, I stalled
on my answer. My thoughts: Do I tell my son to “ask google”? This would
be the easiest option by far and allow me to move on with my busy day.
For whatever reason I asked myself, “What’s lost in doing this...in
telling my son to “ask Google”. Instantly I knew! When he asks Google,
he finds his answer and only his answer. Nothing else. I had a flashback
to my own childhood...pre-Google days. There sat my own eight-year-old
self, asking my Mom a similar question. Her answer was vastly different,
“Look it up” she’d say. Being eight years old, I hated this. It was
soooo hard. “Mom is so mean”, I thought. I remember sitting for what
seemed like HOURS trying to look up the answer. “Why couldn’t she just
tell me?” I’d wonder.
Well,
this morning I decided to be that same kind of “mean Mom” my own mother
was, but it proved a tad more difficult. If I don’t have my son ask
Google, I have to make sure I have the right resources on hand. Somewhat
frantic, my son still waiting for an answer to the question “What is an
object with five sides?”, I scoured my bookcase. Was I equipped to have
him find his own answer without Google? Thankfully, I found a Geometry
book copyright 2012. I am so glad they haven’t renamed the shapes in the
last decade. I sat with my son and thumbed through the book. When we
found the right page, there was a chart of all the shapes from 3-sided
to 10-sided, the names, the number of vertices, and so much more!
Living
life unplugged is hard, and becoming harder as time passes. But experts
say, “there are health benefits related to reducing screen time
including improved physical health, decreased obesity and more time to
play and explore. This is especially true for children spending
considerable time learning on computers and tablets. It's important to
use break times to get in some physical activity. When the school day
wraps up, have a plan to put away devices somewhere out of sight and
engage kids in other ways.
The average time spent on screens is seven to 10 hours.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations for an acceptable amount of screen time are:
- No screen time for children under 2
- One hour per day for children 2 to 12
- Two hours per day for teens and adults
In conclusion, as my son studied the chart, we talked about what his twin sisters would be called if there were three babies. “Mom, what if you had TEN babies?”
“Ugh”, is truly all I can think, but I say, “What if? What would they be called?” And twenty minutes later, after discussing decuplets, and octuplets, I get up from the table, leaving my son to explore the decimal system on his own.
I’m so glad we didn’t ask Google.
