Medical Breakthrough! Kids survive a day without iPads!
Mad Libs, Coup, and Castle Panic.
The boys’ behavior in the morning lost them their iPads for the rest of the day. It was a weekend, their cherished Weekend Screen Time gone in a flash. “But we were only mean for 10 minutes and we lose the whole day?” Their perspective is so comical I have to put it down here.
Once they accept the rules, once they believe that it’s the truth, the law of the day, once they surrender to the new reality, they make peace with it and can move along in their lives. Their bodies didn’t turn to dust, their friends didn’t abandon them, in fact, their friends rallied and even, gasp, surrendered their own electronic personas to join in the desperation of the dreadful day and succumb to non-electronic entertainment.
We had 911 on speed dial just in case of sudden onset of pixel withdrawal, but there was none to be had. Once the new law was accepted, they morphed into children of a day long gone by who used their own creativity to solve four puzzles, play two board games, and even venture out onto the 27-degree deck to see the stars.*
The medical journals will arrive in the morning to document the scene and take blood samples and interview the participants. We might have to replicate the study under their close scrutiny, but I’m not sure my boys could handle the pre-reality drama and desperation. Hopefully, they’ll have learned their lesson to treat their mother with more respect and not have to sink to the depths of pre-electronica recreation.
*If only for a few seconds … but they did it!