It's getting harder and harder to keep my teenagers off their devices. I read that it is our responsibility as parents to fill the void with other activities and that eventually they will choose alternative ways to spend their time away from screens.
At first I thought it was ridiculous and contradicted all prior parenting advice about letting kids entertain themselves and learning to use their own imaginations. Frankly, I found the suggestion that the burden fell on us exasperating. Furthermore, would it even work?
However, a quick overnight trip to Lake Geneva demonstrated to me that "they" may be on to something.
We took a quick trip to stay at The Abbey Resort. Kids were on their phones the entire drive. After checking in, and some convincing, we went to the outdoor pool. "Okay Mom, but we are just going to sit by the pool on our phones. We are not swimming." Fine. I proceeded into the pool. There were basketball nets and rubber balls around the perimeter. I began taking shots. I threw the ball to the kids. "Bet you can't make a basket from there." Slowly but surely, they started taking shots from the edge of the pool, then the steps of the pool, and eventually the water. Before they knew it, it was 3 hours later and no one had checked their phone. As far as the summer goes, this may have been a record.
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"What time was that movie playing?", my son asked. Granted it was a different kind of screen, but at least we'd all be sharing in the experience. The Abbey has a great little movie room with theater seats right next to the onsite arcade and VR gaming. We watched Guardians of the Galaxy.
After the movie we had a reservation at The Waterfront restaurant. We ate on the patio with a simply serene view. There's no better place to have cheese curds and a refreshing craft cocktail/mocktail. I allowed the kids to check their phones, and they did briefly, but for the most part we were just talking and laughing.
We took a nice walk at sunset, along the harbor, back to our room. On many nights, The Abbey also hosts smores by the firepit.
The next morning we had a lovely breakfast at the resort's 2400 West before another small walk around the property and check out.
Before heading home we stopped at Safari Lake Geneva. We only learned about Safari Lake Geneva at the height of the pandemic. Safari Lake Geneva is a drive-through experience. Purchase animal feed before you enter the wildlife preserve. You'll first come upon giraffes and zebra. Though you can't feed them, they can get pretty close up. Through the next gate and suddenly you may be approached by camels, ostrich, alpaca, llama, bison, and more. You just put your bowl of animal feed out the window and let them help themselves. Hold on tight, particularly with the bison. They seemed to have exceptional jaw strength and easily ripped two of our bowls away from us. The circuitous path is a round-trip, so you might want to wait to feed the bison on the return. When you want to stop feeding an animal you slowly close your window and drive on. It was a very cool experience, and something even the oldest of kids will enjoy. I'm convinced you never outgrow feeding and petting animals.
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From there we drove back to Chicago. I noticed the slow return back to all of our devices, even mine, but I also noticed that the more solid breaks we take from them, the slower that return is. We are all happier to be off our phones, but we don't necessarily notice it until we are off them. Something needs to break the cycle. Rather than fight them daily, I've tried to learn from this discovery and make concerted efforts to carve out smaller opportunities to break the cycle - trips to the mall, Six Flags, or a long and intense game of Risk.
We certainly don't have to entertain as much as we used to, but if phone use is getting out of control, instead of nagging the teens to put their phones away, look for an opportunity to break the cycle. A quick trip to The Abbey Resort and Safari Lake Geneva may do the trick!
*Though we were hosted by both The Abbey Resort and Safari Lake Geneva, the opinions expressed are my own.
