Moms turn off your cell phones please!

I thought that might get your attention!  That kind of comment generally is directed at dads.  However, more and more I see moms who never stop talking and texting and their kids are paying the price.  Recently I bought a new bike. Actually, I bought a new bike because my not so old bike was stolen while chained to a steel post.  After buying my new bike, like most new things, I can’t stay off of it.  I like to ride rails to trails.  There are usually a lot of people on these trails which allows me to do another thing I really enjoy, watching people!  It used to be that fathers, and you could spot them a mile away, who were supposed to be spending  quality time with their kids, weren’t!  While Mom was home clearing the kitchen table Dad takes junior for a stroller ride.  Mom is humming at home and smiling because she visualizes bonding taking place with Dad.  It ain’t happening!  Dad’s distracted.    Along comes smart phones and the iPad.  Now, it’s Mom who’s joined Dad in the neglect.  You can see them most everywhere you look.  At the grocery store, in the mall or the park, you don’t have to wait but a second or two and there she comes with as many as 2-3 little babes being entertained in some way to keep Mom free to talk and text!  Even in the car Mom chats away while the little ones watch Sponge Bob on the screen in the back seat.  The outcome is that children are not being trained as is supposed to be the case.  There’s a big difference between “training and entertaining”!  The children are far beyond being bored, they are missing those moments of development that comes from only loving and attentive Moms and Dads.