‘He took his skates off and said, ‘You spent the whole time on your phone doing your job. You didn’t even watch me.’ I was shocked.’: Mom learns important lesson about screen time, ‘Little eyes are watching’

“Last week, I brought my son to his hockey practice.

It had been a long day, and honestly, I was so excited to sit in the bleachers, put my feet up, and relax.

And of course, I was happy to watch my son.

For the next hour I watched him do drills, scrolled through Facebook, answered work emails, and peeked at Pinterest.

When I met him after to take his skates off, the first thing he said to me was, ‘You spent the whole time on your phone doing your job. You didn’t even watch me.’

I was shocked.

I didn’t even know he paid attention to me. I felt horrible.

I had watched him. But I had also went on my phone.

For the next 5 minutes he scolded me. A full role-reversal. The child scolding the parent for technology time.

Tonight, we had practice again and you can bet I watched every second of that practice.

I didn’t look at my phone once. And guess what I saw…

My son looked up at me a dozen plus times.

He waved. He smiled. He showed off a bit. He knew exactly where my eyes were.

He taught me a lesson, this one.

Be present. Little eyes are watching.”

This story was submitted to Love What Matters by KT Swenson of Finding Cooper’s Voice. You can follow Finding Cooper’s Voice on Instagram. Submit your own story here and sure to subscribe to our free email newsletter for our best stories, and YouTube for our best videos.

Read more from KT here:

‘I looked down with tears in my eyes as I absorbed my son’s kicks. Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder. ‘How can I help?’: Special needs mom details ‘unbelievable’ act of kindness

‘You must be sad you will never have a normal life.’ This person had pity for my son. It felt like a shot fired and received.’: Mom to son with autism urges ‘there is only joy and gratitude’

‘He looked right at me. ‘Mama, do you hear how happy he is?’ He couldn’t hear the TV over your happy sounds, but he didn’t care.’: Mom to son with autism shares sweet sibling moment

‘Can you move out of the way?’ Everyone in the store stopped what they were doing, looked up. It was the first voice I’d heard in 20 minutes.’: Woman details ‘awkward’ shopping experience during pandemic, ‘This has changed us’

Do you know someone who could benefit from reading this? SHARE this story on Facebook with family and friends.