When I was seven years old, my father recycled an old deck from our house and built a tree house for me. It was an adorable house, propped four feet in the air. It was my dream. I furnished it was a table made from scrap wood, tiny camp chairs, and a plastic kitchenette. Hours were spent in that little house with my friends, I even still have a small glass tea cup we pretended to drink from. The imagination ran wild up there, some of my fondest childhood memories were made in and around that tree house.
Nowadays, I see no tree houses in backyards. I can't even remember the last time I saw a kid with a scraped knee, which was once a weekly struggle for my friends and I. Times are changing. The problem is technology. Tablets have taken over the youngest generation, every kid either has one or wants one. The endless supply of gaming apps could keep a child entertained for, well, a whole childhood. I feel so lucky to be able to say I grew up with those scraped knees instead.
As a child our minds are growing at an incredible rate, everything we see and do shapes us into the adult that we become. In my opinion, the most rewarding experiences that a child can have are very far from a screen. Meaningful experiences like learning to ride a bike or how to share toys with friends will shape the future generation better than Angry Birds. Raise an adventurer, maybe an artist. I loved to pretend to be a news anchor as a child, and now I'm in college to become a Sports Information Director, a job very heavy with current events and writing. I discovered my love for writing by playing with a cardboard box. It's hard to say I would have the same passion without my career as an eight year old newswoman.
I crave the old fashioned way of raising children, the 'go play outside' way. I'm planing on raising my children this way when I finally have them. Sorry kiddos, we're catching frogs and building forts in the woods instead. Take your kids outside, let their imagination blossom. Play dress up, or go explore the forest, just do something different and be with your child. Don't let that iPad become their best friend. Let them entertain themselves, they'll be better for it.
