December 15 with KT and Kenzie

Thursday:  Evidently today Kaity had a half day at school; so this afternoon, she and Kenzie and Harper got to jump over at Altitude. They were just pulling into Kenzie's drive when I arrived to take Kaity to my house. Harper skipped over to a neighborhood friend's house and Kaity asked if we could have Kenzie over for a little while. Kenzie checked with her mom and ... yes! We just have to return Kenzie by 6:00 pm. Both girls seemed pleased with this arrangement, so that's what we did.

After we ate, Kaity and Kenzie were playing for a little bit--but then I couldn't find Kaity anywhere! It turns out she "needed some time alone" and was hiding underneath my round chair in my bedroom ... with her phone. Hmm. I reminded Kaity that she had invited Kenzie over to play and convinced her to crawl out of her solitude and at least be in the same room at Kenzie.

Sign. It's difficult to compete with a phone. At least I realized that it's not just ME who cannot compete with it--even her best best friend cannot get Kaity away from it ... which is sad to me. I don't blame Kaity--truly, I don't. If I was TEN and had a gadget as cool as Kaity has, I would be as addicted to it as Kaity is. WHY? Everything is INSTANT: videos, games, "connection" ... entertainment at your fingertips at ZERO cost -- as long as your parents have an account for you. But still ... my heart aches for our children today. Don't misunderstand: I KNOW I messed up a lot of times while parenting and I am TRULY sad and sorry about it--no excuses either. It's been 30 years or so since I had any "jurisdiction" over what they did and for how long--and we struggled back then with too much video game time ... but nothing like this. 

Kenzie continued building with the MagnaTiles and ended up constructing a very nice castle house! I liked her design very much.

I showed her our MagnaCubes too and she used those to make furniture. 

I am glad you could come over today, Kenzie! 

We were a tiny bit late returning Kenzie to her house--by about 7 minutes. Kaity and I went inside HER house to get her stuff ready to go to her mom's. I offered her ice-cream at McDonald's on the way to her mom's but Kaity declined--said she was tired and just wanted to go "home". That is what we did! Sigh. Kaity is ten and a half (on 12/29/22) and she is firmly rooted in technology. She has a lot going for her! She is athletic! She is organized! She is a born leader! I hate to see her strengths being squelched by a phone. SO ... since I am only a grandma and have NO control over how Kaity spends her time, I will pray that the Lord will show her how much He loves her and just what He expects of her life. The thing is, life goes by super fast ... like a blink. I know we should waste the time He gives us--which I do a LOT (even without playing video games!). Help me do a better job with the time I have left, Lord.