Are spiritual parents uniquely ordained to lead a movement for wiser use of media and digital devices for our children?
Gloria DeGaetano thinks so. In Left to Their Devices…What’s Left? you will find provocative poems and compelling prayers that capture the angst, fear, guilt, confusion, and frustration of parenting in today’s “screen machine world.” You will also find solace and wisdom, hope and inspiration.
Use this book as a personal meditation. Discuss it at church. Share it with your book club or PTA. Show it to a relative whose child struggles with computer addiction. Give it to new parents, encouraging careful future decisions.
Use this book to make a positive change in your life and in the lives of those you love. Left to Their Devices…What’s Left? is a spiritual call to action…from your heart. Heed the call. Take action.
On Amazement’s Edge A bored child sits on amazement’s edge, teetering toward wonder. With glimpses of potential still foggy, cruel uncertainty requires a faith yet to be discovered. A bored child fidgets, sighs, nags, fidgets some more, craving amusement but yearning for recognition of Self. A bored child thinks quick relief from the tyranny of nothing to do brings the same result as finding what is wanted to do. Mistaking doldrums for percolation; brooding for incubation, a bored child has one foot in the fertile void, but doesn’t know it. That next step may need a nurturing nudge. There are dark spaces to light and musty corners to clear out—plenty of choices to sift through—all must be discovered alone, probably uncomfortably. A bored child insists you make it better, easier, quicker. Resist the pleadings (please), turn away from the whining; extinguish your urge to fill the emptiness. A bored child sits on amazement’s edge, teetering toward wonder, waiting for you to shift the lens of attention, longing for you to say: “It’s OK to be bored, honey. Here…these are your special inside glasses. Put them on. Close your eyes. Look inside. Sit quietly. Take your time being bored. Sit and wait. Soon you will be amazed. Keep looking inside. Sit and wait until you find what you want to do next…you will invent it from the inside of you. I know that. And when you do, you will never be the same…ever…again.”
About the Author
Gloria DeGaetano, writer and educator, directs Parent Coach International™ a global community she founded that brings parents and professionals in family support together for dialogue and decisions about what’s best for kids. Gloria originated the parent coaching profession, developing Parent Coach Certification®, a year-long, graduate-level training program credentialing teachers, counselors, and social workers as certified parent coaches.
Assisting parents and educators with media-related challenges since 1985, Gloria has written many articles and several books including Screen Smarts: A Family Guide to Media Literacy and Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill: A Call to Action Against TV, Movie, and Video Game Violence (with Lt. Col. Dave Grossman). Her book Parenting Well in a Media Age, won the 2007 i-Parenting Media Award for excellence.
For moms and dads who wish to take time to renew their lives and re-adjust their family’s relationship with media and digital devices, Gloria offers Retreats for Spiritual Parents.
For more information, please see www.LeftToOurDevices.com.