just say no

Call me mad. Okay, why are you mad, oh Radiopapa? Because everywhere I looked today at Market Basket I saw everyone plugged in, even the kids. What kind of world are we living in now when parents don't take the time to look away from their electronics to spend time looking at their children? What kind of world are we living in when we use these same electronics as babysitters for our children? We, the baby boomers who were the first to be catered to on Saturday mornings with cartoons and the Banana Splits and were the first demographic to be hit with McDonald Land, Captain Crunch and other commercials designed especially for children should know better. I would gladly have another five minutes to look at my son's face as he discovers his first butterfly or points out to me a flower he thinks is beautiful, even another five minutes to see him board the bus for kindergarten. While it may be a natural progression from our generation watching Sesame Street as our parents cleaned the house they also took time to walk beside us as we discovered life; I watch too many new parents walk and text while their children are desperate for attention and face time. Too often I see examples such as a little boy at BJs running around trying to show his father how fast he could go only o be met with a bunch of "A-ha's" as his smart phone is more important. Just makes me want to cry if not scream. 
To paraphrase my cousin, I think he said it best when the blame was put on the electronics and how they have become so important, that our children can text, skype and stream almost simultaneously; I also think that it's good that we have rules in our family, that our children need permission to do certain things and that we stress family is most of all and ultimately more important. Sometimes it seems that these values have gone out the window and the electronic sitters have taken over so that we as a society don't have to hear the arguments and carrying on of our children or even grandchildren. I'm sorry but my family does not live in the Matrix world, there is no Neo and that I will always fight the Mr Smith's of the world to make sure family is first.