Hello, the holidays are here and you are probably already wondering how
on earth you are going to keep your children occupied for the next four,
five, or six weeks, however long it is.
Now, here in Australia, our government has just instituted a, a new law, and
that is that they have banned social media for all children under the age
of 16 or , loads of different social media type, uh, of apps and platforms
for children under the age of 16.
Now, those of you that know me, know that I am vehemently
against technology for children.
I don't believe that children should be on technology at all.
I think as an educator, and many of my fellow educators have seen the detrimental
effects on children's behavior, on children's focus, and on children's
learning in general, ever since we started giving them one-on-one iPad programs and
having technology in classrooms because they're already getting technology
at home, then they come to school and they get more technology at school.
So,
we, those of us that have been around the block for a little while, we have seen
firsthand what technology has done to children's behavior, learning, everything.
And so I am against technology.
So on the surface, this sounds like a fabulous idea and so
many people have hailed this to be, you know, an amazing thing.
It's just about like Jesus walking on water.
But I honestly feel that it is not.
And I know I'm gonna lose a lot of people listening today, but hear me out.
You see, I am from the school of thought that says, actually, you know what?
It is a parent's responsibility to parent.
It is not the government's responsibility to parent our children.
The government is not my daddy and the government I feel has no right
interfering in how I raise my children.
And so I have always come from the perspective that it's my job as a
parent to decide what I feed my kids, what school they go to, how I want
to educate them, what values I want to instill in them, how I want them
to just operate in life in general.
The government does not need to tell me how I need to raise my children.
And I don't want them interfering in how I raise my children and whatever
I choose, how I choose to parent.
That is my decision.
Now, I know also that there are many people saying, oh yes, but you know,
there are many people out there who aren't doing a good job of that.
They are not policing their, their children on social media and not
policing their children on, uh, the apps.
And so they need intervention.
Well, the government could very easily have spent that money on creating
education programs and advertising campaigns to educate parents on
keeping children off computers or off social media or off technology.
In the same way that there's a massive campaign here in Australia that I
think is pretty good, where they are, uh, helping parents say no to giving
their children alcohol at an early age.
So why can't they spend their money and rather educate parents on the detrimental
effects of technology and of spending time on technology for young children.
So that's where I'm coming from because I have always taken responsibility
for my children and their learning and their education because I've
always felt that that is my job, and I've taken it very seriously.
And then you'll get people who'll say, oh, but you know, the children
will feel so out if they don't also have phones and things.
What nonsense!
My children were not immune to this.
They also wanted iPhones and everything else, like their friends,
'cause their friends all had it.
And, oh, you know if I need a phone because I need to phone
you in case something happens or you've gotta pick me up or Fair
enough, do you know what they got?
A Nokia brick, that'll be just fine.
They can send texts and they can call.
That's all they need.
My children bought themselves smartphones after they left high school.
When they got jobs and they started getting their own money, there was
no way I was going to put a computer in their hands so that they can sit
there like zombies at the bus stops and everywhere else on their phones.
We have to teach our children to become leaders, not
followers, not parts of a herd.
We need to teach them that it's okay to be different.
We need to teach them that it's okay to be the person who's actually
thinking and being proactive.
You don't have to follow the herd like a sheep.
You don't need to do that.
We have to give our children the strength of character, so that they
understand why we are doing what we're doing so that they understand our
perspective and where we are coming from.
If you just say, oh, you're not getting it, they don't understand that and then
they think you're just being a meanie.
But if you actually explain why you're taking the choices and making
the decisions that you are, they actually get on board with that
and they see then that you are doing this for really good reasons.
So that's the one part of it.
The other part of it is when you've got young children,
well, what do you do with them?
Now,
When my children were really young, we lived in the Middle East in Dubai.
And in the summer of the summer holidays, which was our long holidays were those
June, July, August holidays, it was as hot as hell, over 40 plus degrees
Celsius, and you couldn't even go outside.
We'd go to the pool or we'd go to the beach really early in the morning, like
five o'clock and be home by seven 30, and it was really too hot then to go outside.
So I had to come up with creative ideas that I could do indoors
to keep these children occupied.
You know 'cause you can't go to the mall and go and see a movie every single day.
It costs a lot of money, right?
So you have to come up with ways at home that you can keep your children occupied.
So I came up with 24 activities and I've created a PDF
download for you 24 Activities That Instil Natural Curiosity in Kids.
And I've also included an inquiry question with each activity so that you can think
about a question that you could ask your children just to get those creative
problem solving juices flowing so that they could think about what they're doing.
It doesn't mean that you've gotta sit on them and you know, hover over them.
You're going to give them the materials, leave them alone to do whatever
it is that they're going to do.
And also, many of these activities are a perfect opportunity for
you to bond and form closer relationships with your children.
That's one thing that social media and technology has destroyed, because
parents are on their phones, children are on their devices, people aren't
talking to one another anymore.
There's no communication, and that's, by the way, another thing that we as
educators have seen with young children is that their oral language has plummeted.
Many of these kids cannot speak properly, they cannot communicate properly, and
their oral language has become so affected by the presence of phones and other
technology and devices in their homes.
So some of these activities, great time for you to bond again with your children.
So they're simple things.
They're no-brainers, really.
Things like getting your kids involved and creating a picnic, making picnic food
together and in the Northern hemisphere, for example, it'll be freezing icy
cold, well create a picnic, put a rug in front of a fireplace, or in front
of a window, in front of a Christmas tree, wherever, and have a picnic.
Or if you've got one of those indoor tents or a teepee, put that
up and have your picnic There.
Just a little bit of creativity and you know, kids don't need a lot.
They just need to know that you are there and permission to just be a little bit
creative and have a little bit of fun.
So imagine we can have a little picnic, little finger foods in your little teepee
in the lounge or your bedroom, wherever it is, and we're gonna have a picnic and,
have other things there, like put books in or, and a lamp or torch or whatever it is.
And it's the same thing with, for example, building a fort.
This is something my kids did when they were little all the time.
When it was too hot to go outside, they'd build a fort under the dining room table.
They'd put in their bedside lamps, they'd put in their cuddly
toys, they'd put in the books.
They'd lie there.
They'd have torches and I remember the forts being up for a week at a time.
So what, it's a little bit of blankets and stuff.
It's a little bit of untidiness, but it's holidays.
You are allowed to do those things.
It's like you're allowed to be in your pajamas till 12 o'clock
when you're on holiday, right.
Other things I've done is go on a discovery walk and take a bag to
collect all the natural objects that your children pick up.
'cause I've never gone on a walk with kids, where they've not
stopped and picked something up.
Be a stone, a pebble, a feather, a dandelion, whatever.
That's what kids do, right?
And in fact, in last week's podcast episode, I spoke about exactly that
and about how you can use those things that children pick up and use
them to create learning experiences that don't even feel like learning.
I'll leave a link to that free e guide in the show notes for you.
And by the way, I'll leave a link to the 24 fun activities that can
still curiosity in kids that PDF.
I'll leave a link to that in the show notes too.
So you can print this PDF off, stick it on your fridge or somewhere.
And as you do each activity, just tick it off.
And of course there's only 24, they're no-brainers.
You'll probably come up with a hundred more.
And maybe you wanna create or get your kids to create on a calendar,
see how many more you can create and stick on there and then just
tick them off as you complete them.
And some you might wanna do more than once.
It's all entirely up to you and your family.
But what a great way to get kids off screens and to get them thinking
and to get them more creative and problem solving and actually learning
without them even knowing it.
Go to the show notes.
Download the PDF for the 24 Fun Activities, and you can also download
the free e Guide, how to Instill Natural Curiosity in Children.
That's all there for you to download and enjoy.
Now, before I go, I just wanna say, I know that you can listen to any of a thousand
podcasts out there, but you've chosen this one and I am eternally grateful for that.
And if you love this podcast and you like the kind of things that I
talk about, why not just take a few seconds, click the share button.
It's usually those three buttons that ellipses at the top on a, on an iPhone,
on Apple, and then share it with a friend, a colleague, a family member so
that they can listen to this podcast too and so that we can be more easily found.
And the only thing that remains now is for me to wish you a very
happy and blessed Christmas.
May the joy and peace of Christmas come over you and your family,
and may you have a wonderful week ahead and Christmas celebration.
Thank you for being here.
Merry Christmas.
I'll see you again the same time, same place next week.
And until then, stay blooming, curious, and take care of yourself.