UNITED STATES—Kids are a lot, a lot more than what most people realize, if they’re not parents. I had the pleasure of babysitting my nieces over the weekend and man did they exhaust me. Is it me or is it hard to keep children entertained nowadays? I felt my nieces didn’t want to do anything but stay glued to their iPads or phones. It is almost like technology and social media has totally dominated and changed how kids entertain themselves.
When I was a kid, I actually went outside and played. Granted I had 5 other siblings to do that with, but we also didn’t have the issue of social media either. We had video games, but even then, we didn’t play those for hours-on-hours on end. We found ways and games to entertain ourselves. Kids today, they really don’t want to do those things. They want to be on that iPad or mobile device from the beginning of the day to the end of the day which makes me wonder about kid’s ability to learn.
They didn’t want to watch a movie, they just wanted to play outside, all the games they wanted to indulge in were on their devices. My one niece was busy coming up with ideas to build a potential business that she has been thinking about and she’s quite young to say the least, but having that business savvy mind is intriguing. My other niece is always on the go. She has energy people, lots of energy, and it’s contagious, so even if you’re having a bad day, her smile and energy will immediately change that.
My one hiccup is that she always wants to get up super early in the morning. I work nonstop, so to have one day off and be able to sleep in is a joy, if I can make it happen. I was hoping to sleep until at least 8 a.m. or 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, nope, my niece wanted to get up at 6:30 a.m. and she wanted her Fruit Loops. Don’t even ask because I think that is one of the worst cereals in the world, but for her it is like a guilty pleasure. So even though I wanted to sleep, that idea was tossed out the window.
That was just the beginning of breakfast as a full course feast was laid out that included pancakes, oatmeal, sausage, omelets and grits. Yeah, I will do the works on breakfast if I have to, and as long as people eat, I am ok with it. They did indeed eat. I did also discover that kids just love to snack, but the problem with them snacking is they never eat it all.
It’s a bag of chips here, a cookie or two here, candy here, veggies or fruits, but they never eat it all which drives me absolutely crazy. I don’t care if you have a snack, but I expect you to eat it all, don’t nibble and just waste the rest of the product. Eat all of it or none at all. Once that day was over I was out of it, I cannot recall being so tired and exhausted because it never ends. You are always doing something or having to keep kids entertained or busy. Kids don’t stop until they sleep and when one kid is sleeping and the other is awake that is not easy. However, if you find something that keeps them entertained do what keeps them occupied.
