This past week I've become painfully aware of parents handing a child their phones to play a game instead of interacting with the tots.

I watched a 4 yr old with a Thomas the Train toy in his hand enter a lunch place with his dad. Dad was ordering and I asked the boy about Thomas. He told me Thomas was on his birthday cake. Wow, I found out he was 4 and we chatted. The little guy's eyes were everywhere, curious about various things. When Dad sat down, instead of engaging with the child, he handed him his phone with some game for the kid to play. The child obviously was more interested in some of the decorations at the restaurant, but Dad seemed oblivious and encouraged the boy to play with the phone. ARRGH! A learning experience and one-on-one time with Dad lost!

In my humble opinion, electronic devices equate to lazy parenting.

I see it everywhere, women with children yapping on their phones not paying attention to their precious charges! No wonder kids don't know how to communicate, make eye contact or interact. I see good moms involve their kids: telling an older child to pick out 5 red apples or something. My kids are no longer little, but I'm proud I involved my children and created memories for them. In return I have lots of happy memories too!

Maria