Edmond Mom Unplugs Her Kids

405Moms.com

EDMOND, Oklahoma -- Is technology dominating your family? To the point where you don't even know your kids anymore? That happened to one mom in Edmond, Oklahoma. So, Amanda Gant decided to change all that and unplug her kids from technology and plug them in to family time.

Amanda Gant said her kids were addicted to technology, either on the computer, watching television or playing video games. And they all have a favorite. Ten-year-old Layton Gant said his passion is Call of Duty Black Ops on the Wii.

"It's a shooting game. There's also zombie mode," said Layton. "One night I was up all night playing it."

Until one day, their mom Amanda said no more.

"I just found we weren't connecting as a family," said Amanda. "The kids would go up and play video games or watch tv and we weren't involved together."

She decided to start limiting her kids' time on the electronics, only to find it was too hard to handle. "It was very hard for me to manage an hour or two hours for electronic time when I'm trying to get the house cleaned up and dinner done and us out the door to activities," she said.

So, she took a more drastic approach. She literally unplugged her family from Monday to Thursday. Then Friday to Sunday, they had full reign of the electronics.

"At first the children were reluctant and had a hard time with it, but after a while they found things to do, they weren't bored anymore," she said.

"I discovered I can play with my Legos, play with my friends more," said Layton. "I also discovered I could play with my sister."

And now the home is full of life again. Because now they interact, cooking together or playing board games or just talking.

"I feel like now I know my children, whereas before, the video games knew my children," said Amanda.

But she added they still love their video games.

"I don't think I'm getting used to it yet," said 13-year-old Preston Gant. "It will take a couple of years."

Amanda said even though her kids have full reign of the electronics on the weekends, they don't necessarily use them 24/7.