Parents Paying More Attention to Phones Than Kids

This past week you probably saw the heartbreaking story of a mother who did not realize that three of her children had drowned.  Police are saying she was distracted by her phone and are looking into pressing charges of accidental death.  Everyone who knew her said she was a good mother and she is extremely distraught. Others say the pool was in poor shape and no one should have been swimming there.  The idea that a mother can be so distracted by a phone has shocked many parents, especially those of us who regularly carry our phones.

In fact a recent survey by AVG found that 54% of children say their parents are on the phone too much during the day.  About 36 percent of kids also said that their parents were distracted by their devices during a conversation. In the end, 32 percent of kids said their parents’ distraction made them feel unimportant.

As parents, we are quite concerned about how much screen time our kids have, but we need to look at how much time we are spending in front of a screen.  The bottom line is that parents need to be aware of the time they spend on their phones when we may need to put down the device and look at our kids.