By Renee Martinez, Founder of Raising Boys World
A few days ago when I was on Facebook (there’s a Mothers Raising Boys group – please join!) and a friend of mine sent me a little pop-up instant message. I was on the way out to drop off my son at pre-school, but wanted to take a second to check email. Sometimes I have no self-control. So I replied to her message and 5 minutes later we were still communicating. Does this happen to you? Twitter (if you want to add me, I’m momraisingboys) is fun too. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in all this technology! There’s something liberating about feeling connected to the world beyond your zip code, especially for parents who stay home with their children. Before the Internet world, I guess moms would just rack up their phone bills. Does it interfere with your ability to parent? I have a laptop, so the ease of moving my computer from room to room gives me Internet access whenever and wherever, regardless of what my kids are doing. When they’re watching a show in the morning, I’ll often sit next to them and type. When it’s warm and they’re playing outside, I’ll watch them with my computer. Am I pathetic or what? Here’s the thing, as a girl, I played with dolls. I’m kind of tired of playing cars and trucks or with the little animals that we used to makeup stories with. When the older two boys were younger, I used to play all sorts of fun games with them or do crafts and projects. No problem. Now, I not only have less time with the addition of the younger two boys, but I have less interest. In the morning, they watch 30 minutes of TV while we get ready in the morning. Then a small amount of TV after school as well. I do not allow video games everyday or for very long time periods. I encourage the boys to play with the train table, the Playmobil stuff, read, color and draw and to play outside. Only, what I’m finding is that most of the time it’s with me watching them, not actively participating. My mother on the other hand, does makeup fun adventures with their toys when she plays with them. Maybe that’s why they love her so much. They get that one-on-one attention that I’m tired of giving. Gosh, now that I have an iPhone, I could really be preoccupied! The truth is that this time with the children who are of an age when they want to play with me is very limited, as they are growing up quickly. I need to get out of my slump and re-connect with them. I know that they’ll enjoy the time with me if we play together more and I will know that I did my best to give them a fun childhood. Playing with the children is a bonding opportunity that I shouldn’t ignore. Developmentally, children do need time playing independently, but crave time playing with parents; it makes them feel special. Role-playing kind of play, with action figures or stuffed animals, encourages creativity. I think it’s time I put the gadgets and the computer away and reconnect by playing with my children more.
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About the Author: Renee Martinez consults and speaks professionally on social media marketing, integrated marketing communications, public relations and branding. She is the president of Ruby Marketing Communications (www.rubymarcom.com), a boutique marketing communications company that specializes in providing branding, social media strategy and integration, and creative services. Her blog (www.lisac95.sg-host.com), provides resources on everything marketing and social media for her active audience.
Renee has contributed as a featured monthly columnist in the monthly jewelry industry publication, JCK, on matters related to internet marketing as well as in InStore Magazine as a featured blogger where she writes about developing effective marketing strategies for the jewelry industry using social media. She is the founder of: Social Media Biz Summit (www.socialmediabizsummit.com), the first large-scale SM conference to come to Buffalo, NY; #jewelrychat, a weekly twitter chat for the jewelry industry and www.RaisingBoysWorld.com. Renee teaches social marketing courses at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY for the business school as well as offers small group social media marketing training and educational seminars for businesses in Western New York and beyond.
Renee has dabbled in the internet marketing arena since the early 90′s and is not ashamed to call herself a “marketing geek”. From chatting in AOL, “sharing” music on Napster, and teaching HTML classes before it was considered “cool” to developing comprehensive social media strategies, effective public relations campaigns and managing online communities (most recently Chevy Girls Buffalo).
She enjoys being able to help people find their voice online and to create buzz about their product or service that will give them the results they desire.
Renee can be found on Twitter (@reneemmartinez) and Facebook (http:/www.facebook.com/RubyMarCom).
