Less technology, more Sunshine

My five-year-old woke me with frightful audacity, yelling, "It's time to get up," and taking off my covers. My child clapped her hands and continued the farce until I asked her to stop. My husband was in the corner laughing, only adding to the misery. It was the start of our week, and to my surprise, my child wanted to go scootering down the nature path near our house with my husband on his morning run. A nature path we had explicitly moved to be closer to.

Now let me explain why this was news to me. My husband and I have been battling long-term against the devices in our child's life. We have been attempting to get her outside and out from in front of the television or cell phone for a while. Always suggesting fun outdoor activities or walks to keep her occupied. Those were for naught, as she always said, "No, thank you." At least she was polite, but we were distraught. Not to mention my endless fatigue from chronic stress, I was tired and had difficulty finding the energy to fight her and get her outside. We also had this desire to want her going out to be her idea and her passion; that way, it would be something that she would take with her into adulthood.

We had suggested as often as possible that she should play outside. We bought all the toys, a scooter, chalk, and a bubble machine. If the toy existed for playing outside, she had it. The toys did little to convince her outside was more fun than playing games on the cell phone. (If you would like to know, I tried deleting the games. She knows how to redownload them, and it is wild what children can do with technology.)

Over time, we saw the change. She started asking to go outside, and no matter what we were doing, we would drop it and take her out. She would spend five minutes outdoors and decide to come in. However, we did it every time. We had hoped that she would eventually relish in more time. The final change came when she met some friends outside playing. These other little girls became her guides and her posse. I saw a light in her that we could not have lit ourselves. She had friends! Friends came to our door and rang the doorbell repeatedly until she answered. My daughter started waking up, saying, "Can I go knock on my friend's door?" She was content not to touch the phone ALL DAY. It was as if we had found the missing ingredient.

That morning was the first morning she woke up and asked my husband if she could come with him on his run. He was so excited he let her wake me up and told me to go. We may have some excellent family time together, he had told me. I wasn't pleased with the moment, but I got dressed and left the house with my family. My daughter was scootering her heart out, leading the pack. I was riding a bike, and my husband was running. We rode the nature path by our house, and eventually, she and I took off on our adventure to the park. She spent over an hour at the park, and we ran back into my husband and made it home together.

My morning may sound somewhat dull to you; however, I want you to know this is exactly how I dreamed my life would be with my family. I dreamed of having time outside together often—less technology on our faces and more sunshine on our skin. My dreams were finally coming true. It only took some intentional work to get there, endeavors we will continue to do so that we may teach our daughter about the best things in life.