Screen Schooled by Joe Clement

Author:Joe Clement
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Schwartz Publishing Pty. Ltd

Even in high school, parents are critical to the mental health and stability of kids. We cannot surrender this role to the on-screen pursuits of a child. I provide a fuller treatment of how families can support their kids in school in the next chapter.

6

Reestablishing Support from Home

That iPad is her only babysitter.

—AN ELDERLY MAN IN MCDONALD’S DESCRIBING A YOUNG GIRL WHO WAS LEFT ALONE

RECENTLY, WHILE GROCERY SHOPPING I ran into a woman named Susan whose three children I had taught. Her kids had all graduated from high school and she was working as a middle school assistant principal, so I was surprised to see a curly-haired two-year-old girl buckled into the front of her shopping cart. “Your youngest?” I joked. She was actually Susan’s first grandchild. As Susan and I chatted and caught up, I couldn’t help but notice that her granddaughter was silent, hunched forward over an iPad as she pecked at the icons on the screen in a zombie-like trance. Susan realized I was looking at the girl. “It’s amazing, isn’t it?” she asked, pointing to the iPad. “I remember trying to grocery shop with my kids. What a chore! Now she’s occupied and learning, and I can get in and out of here in a hurry. Isn’t it wonderful?”

My head nearly exploded. The only response I could come up with was some sort of guttural noise. We said our good-byes and parted ways. Rather, she moved on as I stood there, processing what she had said. Of course grocery shopping with little kids is a pain—because they ask questions! A grocery store is, at its core, a learning laboratory for a child. “What’s this? Can I have one of these? Why is ketchup in a plastic bottle and pickles are in glass jars? Why do the lobsters have rubber bands on their claws?” Even when children are too young to ask questions, they are still aglow with curiosity. They touch everything, filling the cart with random items they’ve pulled from the shelf when the parent has turned away, trying to get a sense for what different things feel like. They point to different-looking people as the parent quietly pushes their hand back down. They interact with their parent and with the people and products around them. Yet Susan, who was charged with making academic acquisition decisions for her school, thought it was wonderful that she was cut off from the child, and she assumed that the girl was learning more from the tablet than she could from her own grandmother. What do you think Susan is going to say the next time Apple calls to sell her school some iPads?

Parenting Is Hard Work

Look, I get it. Giving screens to kids makes things easier. Who doesn’t like easier? I would be lying if I said I didn’t at least occasionally fall prey to this temptation. However, as is the case with most temptations, there is a high cost to pay when we give in too often. One

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