How will technology affect my new baby?

One of the things that I am most struck by, as I settle into my new role as a father, is how different the world is now to when I was a boy. When I was a child, there was no commercially available internet (let alone emails) and the mobile phone was completely out of the question! Now that I am a father, I start to think about my relationship with my father and how work influenced his life.

When I was growing up, the working world was a very different place. You spent time at the office and you spent time at home. The two were very different places and it was almost impossible to work from home. When my father was home, he would be spending time with his family. These days, in a time where we are more connected than ever, our work lives and our home lives are blending into one.

I wonder how my relationship with Victoria will differ from my father’s relationship with me. The huge advancements in technology will allow me to be at home more and more but does this mean that work will always be intruding on family time? It is so easy to reply to an email on the weekend or just after dinner, something that would’ve been impossible for my father. It will be interesting to see how these advancements in technology will impact the way we spend time together as a family.

Expert response from What Were We Thinking! expert, Jan O'Connell

Each generation of parents face a range of challenges and decisions to navigate throughout their parenting life. Our own parents, as well as the prevailing views of our friends and the society we live in, generally shape the roles, responsibilities and expectations about how we undertake the task of parenting. These views and practices change over time and will continue to do so.

Time pressures on young families have never been easy and this situation is not likely to change in the near future. Thinking about how you want to parent your children and the relationship that you want to build with them as they grow and develop through their lives, are important issues for couples to regularly consider and discuss together. Parents need to develop strategies to manage the demands of work and family life, as well as factoring in some time for each partner’s individual interests. Creating a workable balance is often challenging to manage and to maintain. Placing the making and maintenance of a secure relationship with your child and your partner as a top priority is a good place to start.

Technology is an increasing part of our lives and children begin to use electronic devices early. You are your children's role models. The way they behave will be directly influenced by your attitudes and behaviours. It would be very few people who would reminisce later in life that they would have liked to spend more time at work or on their computer or phone at home rather than with their family. Time slips away and children grow up. Enjoy being a parent, enjoy your child being a child and enjoy the wonderful relationships that you can build together as a family.

Posted in: A new reality Dads In this together