So lets talk about the world we live in.

I am sure plenty of you have seen this: Parenting as a Gen Xer. If you haven't please go have a read before you read any further here as just reading my post will not give you the full picture.

I am not going to go into a long discussion about the positives and negatives about the world that our kids are growing up in - I think the article pretty much sums it all up. We know we can not stop it, and that there is much that is good about it - but we also know we need to manage it. Where I want to take it further is the "pointing out the river" thing.

I have talked before about family culture - more than the values and principles you want to install in your kids. But also what you enjoy as a family. Countering the world they are growing up in with a culture of honest to goodness, traditional family values. Giving them the best of both worlds.  And enjoying the opposite to what screen time brings. That is why I love that we as a family take the time to enjoy a late afternoon walk with the puppies up the koppie, why we go to swim together, go camping and spend time with friends without screens. It was wonderful to see last weekend how screens and electronic devices were mostly forgotten by the kids. How cycling on the dirt roads, teasing each other with the garden hose and building shelters out of next to nothing was priority. You could hear them talking and chatting away, running around, playing hide and seek and so much more. The same can be said of the adults mostly - with little or no phone reception the old game of good conversation was played. It was just great.

I do believe that yes, we are the ground breakers of the new generation, and as such rests not only managing what the new world bring, but showing them that the old world holds its own magic - magic that we can bring through without losing the good the new world brings. That is why I would, in stead of merely pointing out the river each morning, stop in the afternoon, get the kids out of the car and go and explore the river. We need to take this one further - we need to invest heavily into the mindsets of our kids, not just try to impress the merest sliver of oppertunity.

I would love to know your thoughts on this.