The Most Important Step in Raising Indistractable Kids
This is the third day in a row I’m writing about this new word for an old concept, indistractable. I am spending so much of my time with this concept because I think all parents need to emphasize this more than ever.
We can all see how technology has the potential to take over more and more control of our lives. However, this reality is even more stark for children who do not even know what it’s like to grow up in a world where technology is not at your fingertips. This is why teaching them how to be indistractable is so important.
With that said, yesterday I shared the six steps to help raise children to become indistractable. The key takeaway is simple. It’s not about parents setting boundaries around technology. Instead, it’s about parents teaching their children how to set these boundaries for themselves. Furthermore, there is one of these six steps that is far and away more important than the others.
It Comes Down to Self-Motivation and Purpose
In step two in raising indistractible kids the suggestion is to provide your child examples of non-technology based fun and beneficial things they like to do. Then help them understand how they have less time to do those things when they overuse technology.
Completing this step is a problem if you can’t find non-technology based examples of fun and beneficial things they like to do. If your child’s favorite pastime is playing Xbox or PlayStation, then you will have trouble with this step. Or, if your child’s favorite pastime is watching YouTube or Netflix, or some other streaming service, you will also have trouble with this step. What may be even worse is if your child’s favorite pastime is texting or social media. While all of these things are addictive, texting and social media may be the most addictive because it’s always on in your hand.
If any one of these things are your child’s primary area of fun, then you don’t have a technology problem you have a fun problem. Children find self-motivation in things they enjoy. What’s more, when you find self-motivation, you also find purpose.
Helping your child find what they are innately self-motivated to do, and then developing purpose around that activity may be the single most important thing a parent can do for a child. If you need help with this, please reach out to me as this is what I do in my strengths based coaching program. You can find out about the details of the program here. In addition, if you want to set up some time to talk in detail about how I can work with your family, please contact me using this page.