This is an amazing image.
One of the most important things we can do for our kids is help them learn the power of their imaginations
But you have to contend with the constant onslaught of overstimulating screens
Here are 2 ways we beat screens:
First: reading, every day, no exceptions
In addition to the obvious benefits of being a strong reader, stories in books help open up the imagination and broaden our kids’ worlds.
They expand their ideas of what’s possible. My advice is to start the reading habit as early as possible and let your kids see you reading as often as you can
Second: audio stories
As an alternative to screens, we listen to audio stories (I even created one for 3-8-year-olds that I’ll link in a follow-up post). We listen to them together with our oldest son. You can SEE him engaging with the audio in a way he never does with screens. You can see his brain working. You can see him filling in the blanks in his mind.
Whereas if he was just watching a screen, there are no blanks to fill in. No imagining, no envisioning. Just consuming.
“Imagination rules the world”
Napoleon Bonaparte
This quote is more powerful than people realize
It’s impossible to build anything if you can’t first imagine it
Everything ever created by man first existed in someone’s imagination
Imagination is a muscle. And too much screen time just atrophies it.