{"id":4713,"date":"2018-12-11T12:56:21","date_gmt":"2018-12-11T18:56:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/?p=4713"},"modified":"2018-12-11T12:56:21","modified_gmt":"2018-12-11T18:56:21","slug":"using-your-smartphone-to-connect-with-your-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/using-your-smartphone-to-connect-with-your-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Your Smartphone to Connect With Your Children"},"content":{"rendered":"

You don\u2019t have to read the internet for too long before you come across an article that\u2019s talking about the evils of the smartphone. They say that\u2019s it disconnecting people from one another, or messing with children\u2019s brains, or <\/span>making us dumber<\/span><\/a>, and so on. Like most articles, there\u2019s a degree of truth in what they say, but they miss the mark somewhat. A simpler way to put it is this: a smartphone is a tool, and like all tools, it\u2019s how you use it that matters, not the tool itself. If you use it properly, it can be a tool for bringing together a parent and their children, as we\u2019ll see below. If you\u2019re a parent, take a read. We\u2019ve put together four ways you can bridge the gap between yourself and your little one. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Making Videos<\/b><\/p>\n

A smartphone is about much more than watching videos on YouTube! Indeed, it\u2019s about much more than just the applications that it can install. Let\u2019s not forget that if you\u2019ve got a modern phone, then you\u2019ve probably got a camera that has more quality than you would think impossible just a few years ago. And this means you\u2019ve got the perfect tool for <\/span>making fun videos<\/span><\/a> and photoshoots! Next time it\u2019s a rainy day, use your phone to shoot the next big motion picture hit (well, that\u2019s the idea!). You\u2019ll love seeing your kids all creative, and so will they. <\/span><\/p>\n

Staying in Touch<\/b><\/p>\n

Though the phone can do some incredible things, the main purpose is to make it easy for people to stay in touch with each other. Now, it\u2019s unlikely that your kids are going to spend long hours texting you when they could be texting their friends, but that doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t have a digital conversation. But you should speak their language. Download the <\/span>JoMojis<\/span><\/a> app to your phone, and you\u2019ll be able to send them fun emojis and stickers, whatever the occasion! It\u2019s a fun way to stay in touch, one that they\u2019ll appreciate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Social Media Accounts<\/b><\/p>\n

We give a lot of ourselves over to our social media accounts. It\u2019s a reflection of who we are, or who we want to be! So why not join the great conversation, and connect with your kids that way? Of course, this only applies if your children are old enough to have social media accounts. You\u2019ll gain an insight into their lives and learn what causes they\u2019re passionate about.<\/span><\/p>\n

Playing Games<\/b><\/p>\n

Games have become big business on smartphones. Everyone\u2019s got their game of choice! But instead of competing against yourself and other strangers, why not compete against your child? Some games were just made for friendly – or not so friendly – competition. If you want to make sure they\u2019re learning at the same time, pick a game like Words With Friends, which is much more addictive and competitive than you might initially realize.<\/span><\/p>\n

Managed properly, your phone can be a tool to get to know your children better. They\u2019re everywhere in society anyway, you may as well put them to good use! <\/span><\/p>\n

This post is a collaborative effort by St. Louis Dad.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You don\u2019t have to read the internet for too long before you come across an article that\u2019s talking about the evils of the smartphone. They say that\u2019s it disconnecting people from one another, or messing with children\u2019s brains, or making us dumber, and so on. Like most articles, there\u2019s a degree of truth in what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Using Your Smartphone to Connect With Your Children #dadbloggers","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,1,276],"tags":[126,12,827,147,530],"class_list":["post-4713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apps-tech","category-blog","category-family","tag-apps-and-tech","tag-blog-2","tag-connecting","tag-family","tag-phone"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/abby-table2t.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5JMKA-1e1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4713"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4715,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4713\/revisions\/4715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}