Bill Belew has raised 2 bi-cultural kids, now 34 and 30. And he and his wife are now parenting a 3rd, Mia, who is 8.

How often do parents rely

How often do parents rely on digital babysitters to pacify their children?

Do parents do that?

I thought I was playing with my daddy’s smartphone or my mommy’s iPhone or my iPad mini because I wanted to.

I didn’t know they wanted me to play with the gadgets. And that they had a reason for it.

So, how often do mommies and daddies do this?

According to Live Science – after talking to 2,300 mommies and daddies:

More than one out of 3 (37%) of parents say they might use their smartphones or tablets to give their kids something to do while they (mommies and daddies) are doing something else … like making dinner or having a conversation with a client at Panera or …

One out of 6 mommies and daddies say they have used the digital babysitting method.

But most parents use tablets and games as a motivation or a punishment tool.

If we are good we get to play. If we are bad, we don’t get to play with the gadget.

Wow, the world is tricky.

Read: Transparency – What Does It Mean to Co-Author a Book?

It’s not so simple that I want to so I get to play with these little super toys. Mommies and daddies are using them to get what they want out of me.

Hmm… I need to think hard on this.

Never mind … I just want to play.

Does your mommy or daddy ever use an electronic gadget to get you to do or not do something?

Tricky, huh?

Talk to Bill and others about their experiences raising bi-cultural Japanese-American kids.