The focused kid

My son didn't eat the lunch Grandma packed today because he won second place in his class vocabulary competition and was rewarded with free pizza. He’s been furiously studying vocabulary on his school laptop recently. I was worried about his screen time at first, but whenever I sneaked a look and saw him learning, I chose not to intervene.

My son has always been praised for being ultra-focused, whether it’s horse riding, fencing, music, or school subjects. He can spend hours undistracted, researching and building airplanes or rocket ships from cardboard and shampoo bottles.

As a mother, I take some credit for his level of focus. I always go back to how strictly I implemented a "no screen policy" for the first six years of my children's lives. It was so rigorous that no adults were allowed to use devices in their presence. I learned about the devastating impact of screens on development when I was pregnant with my first child. Most programs - even those labeled "educational" - are designed to hijack a child's attention with flashy sounds and rapid movement, which can lead to a shorter attention span and lower hand-eye coordination. I have always been a firm believer in this rule, enthusiastically promoting it to anyone who would listen.

Seeing him now, winning competitions and diving deep into his interests, I realize those screen-free years weren't just about "saying no." They were about giving him the gift of a quiet mind - one that knows how to seek out its own wonders without needing a digital spark to stay engaged.