The Secret of Our Happy Family. We Banned Our Six Children from Having Any Gadgets in The Home. IT IS most children’s idea of living hell – a home where computers, games consoles, television and even mobile phones are banned. Instead of spending hours in front of a screen, the six children in the Jones family have to fill their spare time by working, reading books, playing and – remarkably – actually talking to people.
Yet somehow they’ve managed to cope. According to parents Miranda and Richard Jones, both 42, the gadget-free lifestyle change has been a success that has benefited the whole family. Their social experiment began six years ago when the couple noticed how one of their children was ‘less grumpy’ when he wasn’t allowed to play computer games.
Mrs Jones said: ‘We would go to the seaside and I felt like they were just waiting to get home so they could go and play a computer game.
‘We would have dinner and I felt like it was something they had to do between playing their games.’
So, to the astonishment of friends, the parents gradually instigated a technology ban for all the children.
The games and computer were taken away, mobile phones never bought and initially television was limited.
Three years ago when the family moved to Ilkley, West Yorkshire, they never installed an aerial so the television became redundant.
Joshua, 17, Sacha, 15, Theo, 13, Rudi, seven, Moses, three, and Nestor, one, are allowed to watch DVDs at weekends and will get a mobile phone when they turn 18.
Mrs Jones, a psychology graduate who manages her husband’s veterinary practice, insists it has worked for everyone.
‘I wanted the children to have a proper childhood,’ she said. ‘They have accepted that spending time on computers and mobile phones is something other kids do and they don’t. Instead they go out more and see friends and have face to face conversations with them.’
Inevitably the couple have come up against opposition. The main problem has been in dealing with schools who believe children need access to the internet at home to research their homework.
But the restrictions have not stopped Joshua being offered a place at Cambridge University.
Mrs Jones said: ‘The schools have moaned at us and implied that we are denying our children something and that hurts.’
She said the children can use computers at school and had books for homework.
She added that fears the children would become alienated from their friends proved unfounded. ‘They’re more healthy and they’ve turned out to be really popular, sociable children. I was worried that it might make them outcasts if they didn’t know about all the latest TV programmes and games but they’ve been fine.’
She said her teenagers had part-time jobs or homework to keep them busy and also spent time reading and chatting. The younger ones spend hours colouring and ‘getting muddy’.
‘The children will be free to do what they want when they grow up but I can’t imagine they’ll spend all their time glued to a TV or computer. They know there’s more to life,’ she added.
But what of the children? Yesterday-life seemed harmonious enough at half term in the Jones household.
Eldest Joshua was toeing the party line, although he admitted he was getting an iPhone this summer. Commenting on the ban, he said: ‘I think it’s worked very well for my friendships, I actually get to see my friends rather than just talking to them on the internet.
‘It’s not interfered with my school life either because, since I did my GCSEs, I haven’t actually been assigned any online work.
‘I have always found alternatives to doing research online and my parents have been really good with getting us books instead.’ ( kompas.com )
Screen-free: Richard and Miranda Jones with children (from left) Rudi, Theo, Moses, Joshua, Nestor and Sacha
Yet somehow they’ve managed to cope. According to parents Miranda and Richard Jones, both 42, the gadget-free lifestyle change has been a success that has benefited the whole family. Their social experiment began six years ago when the couple noticed how one of their children was ‘less grumpy’ when he wasn’t allowed to play computer games.
Mrs Jones said: ‘We would go to the seaside and I felt like they were just waiting to get home so they could go and play a computer game.
‘We would have dinner and I felt like it was something they had to do between playing their games.’
So, to the astonishment of friends, the parents gradually instigated a technology ban for all the children.
The games and computer were taken away, mobile phones never bought and initially television was limited.
Three years ago when the family moved to Ilkley, West Yorkshire, they never installed an aerial so the television became redundant.
Joshua, 17, Sacha, 15, Theo, 13, Rudi, seven, Moses, three, and Nestor, one, are allowed to watch DVDs at weekends and will get a mobile phone when they turn 18.
Mrs Jones, a psychology graduate who manages her husband’s veterinary practice, insists it has worked for everyone.
‘I wanted the children to have a proper childhood,’ she said. ‘They have accepted that spending time on computers and mobile phones is something other kids do and they don’t. Instead they go out more and see friends and have face to face conversations with them.’
Inevitably the couple have come up against opposition. The main problem has been in dealing with schools who believe children need access to the internet at home to research their homework.
But the restrictions have not stopped Joshua being offered a place at Cambridge University.
Mrs Jones said: ‘The schools have moaned at us and implied that we are denying our children something and that hurts.’
She said the children can use computers at school and had books for homework.
She added that fears the children would become alienated from their friends proved unfounded. ‘They’re more healthy and they’ve turned out to be really popular, sociable children. I was worried that it might make them outcasts if they didn’t know about all the latest TV programmes and games but they’ve been fine.’
She said her teenagers had part-time jobs or homework to keep them busy and also spent time reading and chatting. The younger ones spend hours colouring and ‘getting muddy’.
‘The children will be free to do what they want when they grow up but I can’t imagine they’ll spend all their time glued to a TV or computer. They know there’s more to life,’ she added.
But what of the children? Yesterday-life seemed harmonious enough at half term in the Jones household.
Eldest Joshua was toeing the party line, although he admitted he was getting an iPhone this summer. Commenting on the ban, he said: ‘I think it’s worked very well for my friendships, I actually get to see my friends rather than just talking to them on the internet.
‘It’s not interfered with my school life either because, since I did my GCSEs, I haven’t actually been assigned any online work.
‘I have always found alternatives to doing research online and my parents have been really good with getting us books instead.’ ( kompas.com )
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