My toddler has no idea what a commercial is…  I know that seems crazy right? You see we don’t watch TV in our house. No, no trust me I am not one of ‘those’ moms that is against screen time. It’s just that we use Netflix or Amazon Prime. So, she has no idea what commercials are.

She also can’t understand that when she wants to watch something at grandma’s house and it’s not “on”; It’s always on, right at a click of a button, at home.  I can turn on her favorite show, her favorite episode with one click.

As a society are we too used to instant gratification now?

In a world of two-day shipping, online food orders, and the new Instant Pots craze; have things gone too far?

Good things come to those who wait, this is what we have been taught. However, we are now raising kids in a world were everything is at our figure tips within minutes.

This doesn’t help the toddlers mind set. I want apple juice but I want it right now. They already have a hard time waiting. However, now they see us not having to wait. What are we teaching them? 

The big advances our moms had was minute made rice and microwaveable meals. We have online grocery shopping and Daniel Tiger at our fingers tips at any moment to hush a fussy baby in the waiting room! 

I do wonder, worry really, about the toll this will take on my kids. How do you teach them patience in today’s world? A world where I get frustrated when I have to wait for a whole pot of coffee to brew or my Amazon shipment will take more than two days.  

How does this affect how we parent? Are we conditioned at this point also?

We want the kids to instantly go get their shoes on or we get frustrated on the length of time it takes them to brush their teeth. We are used to a fast pace world, however that is just not how kids work. We need to remember to slow down and teach. They are not instantly going to listen, learn, or understand what we mean. They are so busy taking in the world around them, some times it takes time for them to catch up with us.

How often have you been outside playing with your kids, and you slowed down to see the world from their point of view? They find amazement in each blade of grass. They find joy in collecting leaves. They ask questions about that red bird high up in the tree that you did not even notice!

I was out for a walk with a mom friend of mine this week. We were walking along and she said “I looked at a snow flake today.” I wanted to roll my eye at her right way. Until she said, “when was the last time you slowed down and looked at a snow flake, one individual snow flake? They are gorgeous!”

She was completely right! It had been years since I took the ten seconds to slow down and look at a simple snow flake.

In a world of hustle and bustle, we want things instantly. We have been conditioned to have things at our figure tips, instant gratification. However, we need to take a moment to slow down look at how its affects our kids.