Parents in the United States have finally raised the alarm bell. Realising the fallacies involved in allowing kids too much exposure to smart technology and screens, they are looking at backtracking to an era when outdoor activities were a real thing.
However, since it has become difficult for most adults to lead by example when it comes to imagining life without cellular phones, they are hiring professionals to help raise their kids in a technology-free environment.
As per a New York Times report, screen-free parenting coaches are gaining popularity and there is an overgrowing demand for the job role. A screen consultant’s job specifically entails visiting homes, schools, and places of religious significance with large gatherings, to remind parents what it was like to raise kids before the smartphone era.
The point here is simply to engage in regular physical activities that can keep a child’s attention off smartphones. The need for screen counsellors is reportedly higher among the affluent families, where parents feel the nagging need to maintain an environment that is not under the prying influence of Instagram or YouTube.
Private screen coach, Gloria DeGaetano, quoted in the report said that the demand for her service was so high that she failed to handle it on her own. So, she had to launch a coaching institute to deliver lessons on screen-free parenting to a larger audience at one go.
The Parent Coaching Institute now has bloomed into a network of 500 coaches who train parents in small towns and rural reaches for $80 an hour. In big cities, the rate goes up to $125 to $250.
She added that most parents usually opt for eight to 12 training sessions.
Commenting on what’s wrong with an environment that’s heavily reliant on machines, the coach said: “You can’t be a machine. We’re thinking like machines because we live in this mechanistic milieu. You can’t grow children optimally from principles in a mechanistic mindset.”
