Distracted Parenting?

Picture this- a working mom who is reading a bed time story to her little son, chatting about how his day went at school, what did he do at home. They snuggle closer Mommy and her little baby as they chuckle over something clutching their cups of hot cocoa. A picture perfect moment- and then suddenly out of nowhere her phone beeps. It's an office mail. She resists the urge of looking at her blackberry. But the spell is suddenly broken. A few more beeps and she picks the phone and starts scanning through the mails. The little boy is forlorn, he quietly retires to bed. By the time she has gone through her mails and sent a few replies, her son has already drifted into the world is sleep. Typical of working moms , did I just hear that? Being one I would say that yes it is indeed a challenge to keep oneself switched off. The reason we check mails is not because we are addicted or so much in love with our office work that we want to diligently wrap up everything but we want to declutter as much s possible so that we can maximise our productivity while at the workplace and leave office at a decent time to be with our kids. Scene 2-,Seema is thrilled beyond words , her husband has just gifted her a brand new smartphone.being a homemaker she wasn't very tech savvy but lot of her friends told her about this awesome app called what's app where they formed groups and kept sharing photos of their kids, their trips, the fancy dishes they cooked and yea selfies! She kept pestering her husband and he finally got her a smartphone,.  She is so besotted by it that all day long she is clicking her selfies or chatting with someone, checking Facebook or devouring one of various online shopping sites. A whole new exciting world has been opened up for her. But this has inadvertently closed the doors to her little kids Reena and  Rahul. Mummy tho used to wait to welcome them at the door, cook their favourite dishes and lovingly watch them as they gobbled up their food. But now though food was served at the table, Mommy;s eyes were always on her phone screen and her fingers were furiously typing something,
Again a similar story but a Stay at home mom here.
Technology is a boon and has opened up so many new avenues for us, While it brings a host of answers to  any questions we have- the baby is teething- google it, diapers are over- order it online, book the appointment for next vaccination through the net, need stuff for the science project- all the desired information is available at the tap of a button, Parenting dilemma? A host of answers and people willing to listen and discuss are there. Parenting blogs- so many of them on any and every topic you can imagine. But its not without its side effects.
We often find it difficult to switch off . The urge to check our facebook status, whatsapp or that mail from office is forever looming over our heads. We would be really dumb not to realise that our kids are not watching or are too innocent to follow us, In a experiment that was conducted over kids engrossed in play in the playground while their parents/nannies watched, it was observed that when parents tend to get too involved in their own world which is mostly in their smart phones these days, the kids were more likely to fall prey to accident, take greater risk and get injured as compared to those kids who knew they were being watched over.
It was really heartening to read a short facebook post today where small kids were asked to write an essay on "What I wish" and a little boy wrote "i wish I was a smart phone so that Mommy and Daddy would always carry me with them, at the sound of a beep their face would light up, they would laugh and would never let me be out of sight. The moment they cant find me around, they would get agittated and would heave a sigh of relief as soon as they caught a glimpse of me". It shook me up and made me think - How right this little boy is, I wouldn't want my daughter ever to think anything remotely close to that. She is 1 year old now but she senses things, recognises stuff and can decipher actions. While I did take the liberty of stealing a glance at  how my blogs were faring or whats trending on twitter, or looked longingly at that pair of gorgeous shoes the millionth time waiting for it to come on disocunt, I felt the need to stop myself. STOP. Before its too  late, Resist the temptation for it is only one created by me, Twitter, blogs and the shoes can wait but not her childhood. Not these moments. They would be gone in the blink of an eye. And I would yearn for them but sadly they wont come back.
So lets soak in each moment and create beautiful memories with our babies, re live our childhood, laugh more, play more and forge that bond which only happen when we wholeheartedly invest our time in the relation. The email can wait, the company will not close down if we do not reply to it , the  whatsapp message can wait as well and so can that tweet of yours.
Switch off before it too late.