By Rhonda Gillespie
When I was a child, our neighborhood was safe, and I played outside every day with my friends. We used our creativity and imagination, enhanced our problem-solving skills, and developed healthy bodies. But by the time my son was growing up, I rarely saw neighborhood children playing outside. The trend had shifted, and the outdoors was perceived to be unsafe.
I had to return to work full time, which meant longer days and less evening time to play and enjoy the outdoors with my son. The biggest mistake I made was purchasing him his first video game console. It started off with rules and time limits, but as time progressed, so did the hours at the game controller.
In the beginning, it seemed like a win-win: he was interacting with children from all over the world and could casually socialize with his age group. He became good at some
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Rhonda Gillespie is an infant and toddler specialist who has worked in early childhood education for decades. Quoted in Their Name Is Today: Reclaiming Childhood in a Hostile World, by Johann Christoph Arnold.