Guest Blog Christina Avallone
Introduction by April Tribe Giauque
Parents! Is your kid plugged into you or into a device? Are their eyes looking at you as you speak to them, or are they glued to the screen? Do they know the sounds of nature or just the beeping, smashing, and repetitive 5 note run from the game that hyper-focus the kid to the game and not to your voice? Would you like to change that? I have the guest for you! Check out what she has to say:
GO OUTSIDE!
I have always liked being outside, but once I moved to Pittsburgh, I realized how much I enjoy the sunshine, which is short-lived here. Whenever I get, I find a way to be outside if the sun shines.
I am blessed to live near North Park, where I walk the 5-mile loop sometimes twice a day with friends and family. Over the years, however, I noticed the landscape change. Moms stopped talking to their kiddos in the stroller. Instead, they started giving them a device to keep them entertained. I know how fleeting the time is with our children; you do not want to wish it away or stop engaging with your precious little one.
I’m A Mom...
I am the mom of two beautiful, grown daughters. I have lived through and parented through some of the most significant technological changes in the history of the world. Choose to leave a successful corporate career and stay home with my children.
I saw the necessity to bring the same discipline and order I used to manage a million-dollar-a-week 401k plan for the Vanguard Group to this new endeavor of full-time family management. With a husband who traveled for his job, I mostly carried the task alone.
Over the years, technology came on fast and furious, full-throttle ahead of us. During this time, I noticed a disconnect with families. I felt a burden to share how we can parent differently and take the digital reins back.
My Passion
My passion for several years has been to articulate an actionable plan and encourage parents, grandparents, teachers, coaches, mentors, and even older siblings to help their families get out from under the control of surveillance capitalism and break the addiction to technology. I began teaching a class called, Parenting in a Digital World. This class has been attended by hundreds of folks who came in discouraged and left empowered and encouraged.
I am not a Luddite against technological advancement but am against the misuse and overuse of technology. Living in a tech-obsessed social media world is tough. What limits do you put on it? Is it safe? Why can’t kids and adults just put their phones down? Is it too late to make a change?
OVERWHELMED?
It may seem like an overwhelming challenge to set up boundaries, put tools in place to manage technology usage, and teach digital device etiquette. After years of teaching my parenting class, a friend suggested I write a book on what I have taught. When the pandemic hit, I realized this was the time. In my book, Thriving in a Digital World: A Workable Plan for Taking Back the Reins Of Your Family, you will gain valuable insight into balancing technology with everyday living.
You learn that not only can you take the reins back but that you have a God-given mandate to do so. You will be armed not just with the statistics but also the tools to keep you from becoming yet another statistic. This is a message of hope that we can all thrive in the digital world.
Patents, You’ve Got This!
We must teach that it is rude to stop a conversation and look at a text. We can be successful in this tech-obsessed world. Technology can & should be used, but we must set boundaries, have tools, and teach appropriate phone etiquette.
It’s never too late! There is hope! You didn’t know what you didn’t know, but now you do! Start now, start today, and take back the reins! There is no time like the present.
Catch the PODCAST JUNE 14, 2022, at 6:30. pm Mountain
YOUTUBE
Christina Allavone
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