I remember going to dinner with my brother, sister-in-law and their 3 kids. We saw something that made us all sad. Across the restaurant, there was a family of 3, with both parents on their phones and the single kid at the table was just sitting there. We all stared at the parents thinking maybe it was a quick email or text they needed to handle because work and life have a way of making sure our "leash" always has a hold of us. Unfortunately, the food came and went and the parents stayed glued to their phones, they would show each other a funny post or article every couple of minutes. I can imagine my family was a sight for sore eyes, we tried hard not to keep staring, my whole family was in disbelief. It was our reminder to quit bringing phones to the dinner table, you miss out on life and conversation, plus you look like a total #@&* to the table beside you.

A restaurant in the U.K is making sure parents kill their screen time, turn out monitoring screen time isn't just important for the kids. Frankie and Benny's, an American-Italian restaurant, surveyed 1,500 people and the results were heartbreaking. According to USA Today, "70 percent of kids thought their parents liked being on their phones more than they liked spending time with them." How sad is that? The survey also showed that 23% of parents admitted to being on their phones while their kids told them about their day. Is your heart aching while reading this too?

Frankie and Benny's started their “No Phone Campaign” where parents drop their phones in a box and stay off of them all throughout dinner so they can spend some quality time with their kids during dinner. If parents participate they earn a free kids meal! How awesome is that, the parental units save money and spend some quality time with their littles.

Parents, would you participate in something like this if a restaurant in our area did this? How much time do you spend on your phone around your kids? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

 

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