Friend or Unfriend?

During this summer with all four of my children at home, I did not know that I would have 4 more guests that would come and live in our home on a daily basis.  These four "new friends" were there at the brake of dawn sounding off their alarms until the evening singing lullabies rocking my children to sleep.  Our "four friends"  engaged my children in so many fun games I was even mesmorized by the creativity of our guests.  These friends connected them with old friends, some of whom they had not seen for years.  These friends were so smart they could answer any question and had the dictionary memorized.  I tried to be hospitable and treat them with respect, BUT THEN THEY WORE OUT THEIR WELCOME.  It was as if my children wanted to spend more time with their "new friends" then with their brothers and sisters or their parents.  I began to realize that our new friends didn't have many manners because they rudely interrupted a conversation between me and my children after breakfast by "tweeting."  I also realized that these "new friends" wanted to spend alot of time sitting on the couch, snacking on some chips and refusing to go outside and play.  My children started becoming very angry when I insisted that they go do their chores which meant they would be separated from their "new friend."  Their new friends started to affect their attitudes by making them distracted, irritable, impatient and easily offended.  And that is when I decided it was time for a family POW WOW and we were going to talk to our "four new friends"- the IPhone, the IPad, the IPod and the NintendoDS.

In Psalms 46:10, it says "Be still, and know that I am God."  In the midst of an age of technology we must have our guard up and not let devices become a "device" in our childrens' lives.  We must put
time limits on electronics so that they don't become their "new god."  We have a rule in our home that you can't get on electronics until after 1:00pm so that we can have some control.  We believe that electronics can be a blessing, but we want to make sure that our children are not being so entertained that they forget how to be quiet in his presence.  They must learn to quiet themselves from all distractions so that they know that God is God.  Help us Lord in this daily to control our "new friends" so that our children know God's voice better than Siri's.
Tricia Yanney