Inside Out: Offline Gifts that Help You Connect - 12/11/24

Offline Gifts that Help You Connect

 The "Inside Out" Podcast from Family Life News 

Dr. Kathy Koch joins Martha Manikas-Foster for an Inside Out conversation on the kinds of gifts that can help children and teens connect with others offline. 

 Kids are focused on their screens and it’s limiting their development. But caring adults can make a difference.

“They don’t have healthy relationships with people that they see face to face—hard to get them to really engage—and that’s because they don’t have experiences with that, and they’re satisfied by their texting relationships,” says educational psychologist and author Dr. Kathy Koch. Koch is founder of the ministry Celebrate Kids, Inc.

“If you’re concerned about the young people you know who are too much into their screen and they’re not into the offline activities that you believe are life-giving, then demonstrate that,” she says. “We need to demonstrate a vibrant relationship with the God of the Bible and a vibrant relationship with people we love.”

Adults have a role in helping children and teens enjoy unplugged activities and relationships. And, as it’s a gift-giving time of year, they can do that by choosing gifts that encourage face-to-face interaction and offline creativity and problem-solving.

It’s important, Koch says, to look for games and activities that require more than one person to play.  “Don’t buy them something that they can isolate with,” she says. “Because they’re already isolating with their screens.” 

The kinds of gifts Koch is especially excited about may be the most difficult to wrap. “Give them experiences,” she says. “Why? Because they do them with someone else.”

Koch recommends botanical gardens, zoos, presidential libraries, and museums. She’s even a fan of factory tours. “They’re not going to ask for that as a gift,” Koch says. “But you know that you would enjoy doing that with your grandkids, and then the discussion you have afterward. I live not too far from an ice cream factory. Come on, who would not want to go? Take a tour on how ice cream is made and then you go out for ice cream after.”

Hear more (delicious) suggestions from Dr. Kathy Koch during this 11-minute podcast.

Learn about Dr. Koch, her books, and the ministry Celebrate Kids, Inc. here.

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12/11/2024

A special news feature from Family Life focusing on how God changes us from the inside, out.