"The Age of the Screen"

It's always a good thing to take the kids to the doctor for a checkup. It's not so good when they have to get shots, but this last time wasn't too bad. Hollynn did fine, unlike the time before last when she ended up in the hospital due to vaccines. And Hudson didn't have to get any this time. Of course, learning that the kids are healthy is great, but I always enjoy hearing what their pediatrician has to say.

His name is Dr. Prine. He is a great doctor and a great christian man. He is always up to date on the latest findings and trends of young children. Two things that he said stood out on this last visit. 1) The percentage of young children that are obese is rising very quickly. He said it is approaching 50%. This is no surprise to me or to you either if you deal with many kids. The most alarming part about it was that alot of these kids were getting up to 20% of their calories from cokes. 20%!!!! Not to mention those are the worst calories anyone (kids and adults) could consume. Of course, we all already know this, we just choose to ignore it.

The second is one that you may not be aware of. It deals with the amount of time children are in front of some sort of screen. Notice I didn't say the show that is on the screen. It is the simply the fact of watching, not consuming the content. I would like to think that screening the content is an understood for responsible parents.



Now we need to go a step further beyond monitoring the content, but also monitor the amount of time. According to Dr. Prine, even "too much educational programming" is affecting children in a negative way. It wasn't only in one way either. He said that too much tv has an affect on all aspects of a young child's developement, socially, mentally, physically, and everything else in between.

The funny part was as soon as I got home, I read a post from Al Mohler's blog saying basically the same thing. His article stems from a recent meeting of the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics). That is the best part about it. This is not only a finding among Christians, but this is beginning to be reinforced by the secular world also. You can read Al Mohler's blog  (its way better than mine haha) at http://www.albertmohler.com/2011/10/21/in-the-danger-zone-raising-our-children-in-the-age-of-the-screen/.

I am not saying that tv, cell phones, computers, and all other screens are evil. Neither are they. It is just apparent that we have come to a place in America where we not only depend on them, but we abuse them. Reckon the food choices and screen time are tied to the obesity? Surely not.

Give it some thought and evaluate your situation. By the way, I would argue that this is not only true for children, but adults also. We just simply weren't made to sit in front of a screen 24/7. We are made to be social (face to face) and active.