As a young parent, I hear constant reminders to reduce screen time and encourage active play for my little boy.
Raising a young child in 2026 is much different than growing up in the 1990s. My children have access to Netflix, YouTube, tablets, apps, and smartphones in ways my generation never imagined.
Growing up, we had one television, watched whatever was on the local channels and didn’t have a computer or a cellphone—one of each shared by the entire family—until I was about 10 years old.
My childhood memories aren’t tied to screens. They were made from horseback riding; building castles in a sandbox; catching frogs, tadpoles and turtles; and swimming in the stock tank until the rough bottom left the soles of my feet raw.
Now I look at my toddler and sometimes wonder if technology is too much a part of his world. Are we watching Paw Patrol and Ms. Rachel too often? Am I giving him enough opportunities to simply be a farm kid and see the world beyond a screen?
Then we step outside.
He climbs into his Cozy Coupe and drives through the yard, then asks me to blow bubbles. He chases each one with the kind of wonder only a toddler can have, giggling as they float away with the wind.
He always ends up wandering through my garden, carefully touching each flower in bloom and saying, “Wow!” each time, as if every blossom is the first one he’s ever seen.
When it’s time to water the plants, the hose becomes irresistible. I can’t convince him to drink water from a cup with a straw, but somehow water straight from a rubber garden hose tastes like heaven. Add a sprinkler, maybe a farm dog, a hot summer day and some mud, and he’s in his own version of paradise.
Watching him play reminds me that nature has a way of leveling the playing field. Give any child an opportunity to get muddy and spend some time outdoors, and screens quickly lose their appeal. They just can’t measure up to the wonders Mother Nature can offer.
It’s obvious the curiosity, imagination, and simplistic joy that defined my childhood are still there in his. Maybe that’s the reassuring part of raising kids today. Technology may be everywhere, but it doesn’t erase a child’s instinct to explore. It doesn’t replace the magic of making mud pies, observing a bird building a nest in a tree, or finding wiggling worms under a rock.
And in those moments, I realize he’s growing up just like I did—not despite the world he lives in, but because the outdoors still has a way of intriguing kids in the most wholesome ways. Maybe that’s why the best place to be a kid is still outside.
Lacey Vilhauer can be reached at 620-227-1871 or [email protected].
