Family Life: Solitary Independent Play?
Do you have an optimal family life? My husband and I have foster-parented our 9 year-old granddaughter for eight months, learning a lot about all of us in the process. Now her mother has joined us while she builds a new life for them both.
The school has informed us that–while our granddaughter is in the gifted and talented program with test scores above average–she lacks personal knowledge of real-world facts. She is immersed–given the chance–in streaming media four to six hours daily. So are her mother and grandfather. She is addicted to fiction: grandpa favors the news and military history. Dinner is fragmented by different time schedules or is eaten in silence in front of the TV.
All of us are engaged in solitary independent play. Our granddaughter has substituted media for learned facts and social interactions, placing herself at a disadvantage in the real world. Grandpa learned his social skills on schedule but does not exercise them when he is focused on the news at dinnertime. All of us are engaged in solitary independent play.
Solitary independent play is what happens with toddlers in a sandbox. They do “their own thing” without communication, commitment, cooperation or planning. They continue in that mode until they are taught and required to behave differently.
Is this your family? How will your child learn essential life skills when the media consumes six hours per day of teaching time? When will you commit to leadership in teaching essential life skills? Check out “The Most Important Person in Your Life” post to see what you have missed by your lack of planning.
July 27th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Searching for this for some time now – i guess luck is more advanced than search engines
July 28th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
Can I just say what a relief to find someone who actually knows what theyre talking about on the internet. You definitely know how to bring an issue to light and make it important. More people need to read this and understand this side of the story. I cant believe youre not more popular because you definitely have the gift.
July 28th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon.