To the iPhone Mom

I don’t normally read those long essay things that people post on Facebook, but for one reason or another I read this one today. Maybe it was the title that caught my attention: To The Mom on the iPhone. (Sidenote: I just spent 38 minutes searching FB for this article. And I can’t find it. It’s elusive. Like unicorns.)

The gist of it was, iPhone Mom, your kids are running around and playing in the park and you’re not watching them. They’re looking at you each time they climb to the top and you’re not watching them. They’re smiling and laughing and you’re glued to your phone screen. Only, it was a lot less judgmental and bitchy.  It really got me thinking about how much I’m on the phone when spending time with Daniela. Tonight we had a little Mommy/Daughter date so I decided to stash the phone away and just be with her, 100%. I caved and pulled it out for pictures, but didn’t let myself instagram them until after we were home :)

In the 4 hours we were gone, I reached for my phone 13 times. That’s not including when I took photos. 13 instances where I would have spent maybe 1 or 2 minutes returning a text, scrolling through IG, or adding to my grocery list. That’s a half hour or more of my already limited time with her. I was surprised.

And while I don’t feel like we had any epiphany mother/daughter moments because I wasn’t on my phone, it did serve to make me more aware of what she sees me doing. Of course I’ll still find myself IG’ing her photos next time, but I’ll think twice about how often I do it. I want to be the Light in Daniela’s life too, and one of the best ways I can do that is by being present for her.

They’re only this little for a short while and when she’s 16 with her own phone, I’d like to be able to tell her to put her phone down and have a conversation with me without being completely hypocritical :)