Modern-day Parenting

In this fast-paced world we live in today, the trend is that parents rarely see their children anymore. Technology is to blame, saturating today's kids with stimuli to the point that their already short attention spans are diminished further to the length of a gnat's. It would be easy to blame it all on technology and the changing times, but do parents realize that the very machines taking their kids away from them are the very ones that will draw them closer?

With cellular phones equipped with text messaging capabilities, and calls getting cheaper through VoIP, there would be no reason for you not to be able to reach your kids. If he or she is in college and lives further away, you can always reach your kid through email and instant messaging.

But using the tools of today is no substitute to the bonds that a touch, a word of encouragement, and spending time with your kids would build. Thus, even if you can always reach your kids through sms, calls, email, take time out and take your son fishing, teach him how to ride a bike, or shop with your daughter and giggle with her every chance you get. Remember that your kids' childhood is a fleeting period of their lives. If you let yourself be swamped with work, deluding yourself that this torture is for your kids, you will only have yourself to blame the day they decide to move out (and you're not ready) because they feel neglected or suffocated.

Building a relationship with your children is crucial in building them up as people. Use technology, and exhaust the means to communicate and bond with them. Instill time-tested values in them. Create family traditions, and make sure that there is a day set aside for family bonding time. Get to know them as the precious individuals that they are. Enjoy their being, and I'm sure, all these would make meeting those deadlines all the more worthwhile. :)