My worst fear is that someday the kids will draw a picture of their family and their depiction of me will be the back of my head facing a glowing computer screen. So - I attempt to check my e-mail, surf and write blog posts during the ever dwindling naptime, after bedtime stories, or with my morning coffee @ work. But the pull of the keyboard can be strong….”Oh, I’ll just check my e-mail while they play trains…” Multi-tasking mama. But not “present in the moment” mama.

I’m working on it and I know I’m not alone. I recently read Your Voices blogger, Andrew Eklund struggling with the same issue with his older kids. “It’s very difficult and obviously inconsistent to tell the kids you’ve limited their screen time when Mom and Dad are juggling laptops, Blackberry’s, and iPhones all at the same time. It’s like telling your kids not to eat too many sweets as you’re jamming a pint of Ben and Jerry’s down your pie-hole.” The old “do as I say, not as I do” conundrum. You can read the rest of his post here.
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On a related note. I think I’ve disparaged Twitter on this very page. I believe I even accused a friend of twitterbating. “Do people really want to know your random thoughts every 3 minutes?” Apparently the answer is a resounding “yes!” The site now has over 6 million registered users.
OK - now here’s the irony. Well…Cribsheet is now on Twitter, along with the rest of the Star Tribune blogs. I know as of right now that May and I won’t be giving you a play by play of our days with things like “Diaper report. Orange. Too many clementine cuties?” or “I just stepped on Lightning McQueen with my bare foot. Spoiler and all. Ow!” We are both feeling a little too blogged down to commit to twittering and add it to our reportoire. BUT if you are one who follows Twitter’s tweets and want to know when we’ve put up a new Cribsheet post. You can sign up and follow us here:

(Again. I realize - the irony is not lost. Here I am talking about spending more time in the moment with your kids but HEY sign up to follow us online or your mobile device! )

How about you Cribsheeters? How do you keep a balance between your electronic life and the real life in front of you?

This entry was posted on Monday, January 12th, 2009 at 11:46 am and is filed under Family Life, Related Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.