iPad and Trustworthiness

If you are a long-time reader of the blog then you know I am not really a fan of electronic gadgets as toys for my kids.  I have always believed that the best way to spend their time is to engage in recreation with things that remain inanimate until they put them in motion.

But I admit that I cannot totally keep my kids from playing with their electronic gadgets.  In our house during school days, iPads are played only on weekends.  And even then, it's not a play-all-day kind of thing.  I "encourage" them to play for an hour and take a break, and then they can play again after that, but always with a healthy amount of play time only.  Similar to excercise sets, one set = one hour. I am sure not everyone agrees with my way, and we all have different ways of parenting.  But this is what I want for my kids.:)

During summer, they have one-hour in the morning and another hour in the evening to play with electronics. I have discussed with all three of  them that this rule is meant to protect them.  I have witnessed kids of my friends wherein social media/ipads have acted as addictive substance which caused these kids to neglect other areas of their lives.


I am blessed to have kids who understand; and because they know that when we set rules for them, it is always to protect them, they abide by it.  But since they are also just kids, on a few occasions this rule is "conveniently" forgotten... :)

Which brings me to the time when my husband and the li'l man were playing with their iPads alongside each other.  One of the games they love to play is Clash of Clans.  They belong to one big "clan" and  even if the game has a chat room, I feel safe to let my li'l man play and "chat" because the members are all from C's men's group and their circle of friends.  No swearing and cuss words allowed, so safe naman.:) Everyone knows each other, and even if they don't, the separation is never more than three degrees.:) To go back to my story, a few minutes into their playing, C asked R if he was still mindful of the time that he is allowed to use the iPad.

C:  Are you sure your one-hour isn't up yet?

R:  Dad!  Mom might hear you!  I set an alarm to ring on my ipad when my one hour is up.  Do not let mom hear you ask me... I don't want her to think that you have to remind me pa.  She will think I am not trustworthy.  I want her to know I can be trusted, Dad.

Awww!  You really have to love this guy!   Words simply cannot describe how I felt when my husband told me that story that night. It made me teary-eyed a little bit to realize that this li'l man is slowly growing up to be the young man I would like him to be.

Being trustworthy is something that I teach all of my kids.  I always say that when I see that they can be trusted with small things, then I know they can be trusted with big things.  In effect, they will experience more freedom because I know they can be trusted to stick to the rules which the family has agreed on.

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I would want to give myself a pat on the back, but I cannot take credit for it.  Young as he is, he allowed God to work on his heart and in his life.   And I am so thankful for my husband for being so intentional with him.  They talk a lot because he asks his dad so many questions about his faith, especially at night when they do their devotions together.  And as he reads more and more of the Bible, he slowly gets the answers to his questions.

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