One parent makes a good point about the sacrifices of working parents, and how working (or checking in with work) while playing with your child can be a trade-off worth making. I would agree there are situations when this is the best (if not ideal) solution for many families, where technology can be a godsend. I hope that parents who do ‘work while playing’ talk to their kids (even pre-verbal ones) about what it is they’re doing when they glance away at their devices or need to make a quick call. Kids need to know why and when your attention is elsewhere. They may act like it doesn’t matter, but ultimately it does.

And Kacy, I’m all for the photo-taking. That’s about sharing, not detaching. Snap away!

And lastly, I don’t mean to imply that all parenting is drudgery and boredom. But sometimes it is, and many parents struggle to accept that fact. Or that the only reason parents check their devices or talk on them while strolling kids is because they are bored, uncomfortable or detached. But sometimes it is. It is for those parents I stress the dark underside of parenting in my writings.

If one wishes to cluck at this behavior, perhaps it’d be more productive to talk about out-of-control professional norm expectations and how many people genuinely don’t feel they have the luxury of opting out of those expectations, instead of implying it’s largely about ducking parental stress and playground monotony.

Internet/social networking addiction might also be an interesting direction to explore?