The Cell Phone Box

In this day and age, I don’t know any one that doesn’t own a cell phone. In fact, even the toddlers have toy phones or smart devices they can play on. This makes gathering together difficult. You already feel caught up with people, or when you are face-to-face with friends, every one is still on their phone.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Manwich for IZEA. All opinions are my own.
It’s an ongoing problem, and one that started with my generation. I got my first cell phone when I was 14. It was the lovely brick kind that every one had back then and barely fit in my pocket. My best friend had one too (a miniature version of mine) and so began the lifestyle of texting 24/7. As a teen, our schedules were so busy most of the time anyway, “no texting at the table” was never really a set rule. We rarely sat at the table to eat anyway.

But things changed when I’d go over to my godparents’ house. There were a group of us teens that always hung out over there, and if any one of us was caught on our phone too much, instead of being present with the people in the house, the phone would be taken away. It’s a simple thing, but one that has affected my whole relationship with phones and being present with my friends, family members and my kids.

I want my kids to grow up in the moment surrounding them, not the one on the closest screen.

I realize this is hard to do. My entire job is on the internet, and let’s be real, when they grow up, theirs probably will be too. There are legitimate reasons and needs to be on electronic devices, but boundaries are important.

All those years ago at my godparent’s house, I still remember learning those boundaries, even when it drove me nuts to have to surrender my phone to the dreaded cell phone box that was kept on top of the fridge. It was a simple way they said “we love you”. They just wanted time with me, and I couldn’t fault them for that as much as I rolled my eyes with my friends and we would commiserate our losses together. We learned boundaries in those walls and we learned that you show love through eye contact and valuing the friend in front of you more than the acquaintance on the other side of a screen.

I can’t suggest strongly enough for families to create their own cell phone boxes. Even if your kids are young, do it just for mom and dad’s devices! The kids will learn by that act of discipline and love… that they are more important than screens and there are boundaries in the home. It always starts with parents anyways, so there’s no reason not to start today…even if you only have toddlers!

Family traditions are so much fun, I love looking back at subtle things like this and realizing the lessons I didn’t realize I was learning through the simplest of rules or smallest of traditions.

With our busy lifestyles, you can also start a new tradition like Manwich mondays. Every week, you could eat one of the Manwich Monday Recipes.

It’s one less thing to have to worry about, so you can spend more time focusing on what matters… your family! There are so many great recipes to choose from too! I made the sloppy joes (did you know national sloppy joe day is coming up on March 18th?) for dinner tonight, and have my eye on the meatloaf recipe (see link above) for next week! It’s nice to be able to have simple recipes like these to pull out to start the week off right. You can even Sign-up for ReadySetEat eNewsletter or Follow Manwich on Twitter to find more recipes! Since the sauce itself has no meat, it’s perfect for pastas, sandwiches and anything else that needs some extra tang! You can visit  ConAgra Foods’ Website to find the closest place near you that sells it!

If you aren’t quite ready to implement the cell phone box, then you can serve up sloppy joes… your kids will have to eat them with two hands, so it will slowly get them used to putting the phones down! Baby steps!!!

Leave a comment telling me one tradition or lesson you didn’t quite understand as a kid, but now you are grateful some one taught you. If you do, you’ll be entered to win a prize pack from Manwich that includes three cans of Manwich, (Original, thick & chunky and bold flavors), a branded spoon, stainless steel saucepan, branded tote and a $50 visa gift card! Share your stories and Manwich will share the love with one of you! I love hearing family traditions and they can inspire other readers (and me!) to start our own!