An hour or so later and they were indoors, one plugged into an iPad watching Pokemon on Netflix having completed his homework, another rifling through a toy box pulling out various forgotten plastic toys exclaiming excitedly at every item he rediscovered, while our little artist was hard at work, cutting paper, glueing, sprinkling glitter and drawing her colourful creations. This is childhood, shiny screens, plastic toys and colour, lots of color.
As I looked at them I noticed all three had muddy knees, evidence of their earlier outdoors play. One had an ink moustache which he proudly came out of school sporting and made it hard for me to talk to him without smirking. Laughter, loudness, the usual squabbles over toys along with the never ending debate over who was the most powerful / magical / fastest etc became the music I worked to in the kitchen.
Watching my children play together, in the garden and indoors flicking between technology, books, creativity and good old fashioned outdoors mud and fun made me reflect on what childhood is today. Yes, technology abounds with tablets and games consoles at little fingertips and as a result nearly every parent at some stage questions the amount of screen time they allow their kids. Is technology too much, is it affecting childhood? I don't think so, in my opinion an iPads or a child's 3DS doesn't take from their childhood experience, if anything it enriches it and helps their minds to develop, they become more inquisitive and full of wonder and fantasy. The majority of kids love to be outside, playing together climbing, sliding, swinging and weaving their own magical worlds which more often than not are influenced by their favorite TV characters. This is the childhood I want for my three, I want them to be tech savvy but I also want them to get outside and play and most of all use their imaginations to have fun. Their little for such a short time, they need to pack in as much fun as they can in that time.