Image by Alexa from Pixabay

Lidiya watched as her children stared at the pads in their hands, eyes glued to the screens. She frowned. They were young, only five and seven, and she felt they shouldn’t be spending so much time attached to their technological devices. Having come from an agri-world she’d spent much of her childhood outside. Her husband Sian had come from a high tech world and had never once set foot outside until he’d come to her homeworld as an auditer.

Lidiya glanced out at their backyard. They were living on a mid level tech world. Parents still played outside with their children here, but there was a level of technology that her husband felt comfortable with. It had been a compromise after they’d married. Lidiya wasn’t happy but Sian was and in his mind that was what mattered.

Lidiya walked into the kitchen. She grabbed some of the kitchen soap and made up a mixture she remembered fixing for her own younger brothers and sisters. She found something to serve as a wand. “Nila! Hiram! Come here please.” She called her children to her.

“Coming Mom.” Hiram and Nila joined her. “What’s that?”

“I’m going to show you a neat trick,” she told him. “Put on your shoes and let’s go out into the backyard.”

The children did as she told them, intrigued. She took them outside, dipped her makeshift wand into the mixture, and spun in a circle. Huge soap bubbles filled the air. Nila squealed in delight and Hiram laughed delightedly. They reached out and touched the bubbles, only to have them pop as they touched them. This made them giggle and they chased the bubbles, popping them all.

For the next hour, Lidiya and her children played happily in the backyard. Lidiya noticed Sian watching them but he said nothing so she ignored him. Finally the mixture was gone and the children were laughing and breathing hard. “Mom, can we do this again?” Nila asked happily.

“We can do this again another day,” Lidiya promised her daughter. “Now, why don’t you go rinse off your hands and go back to your books. If you’re curious about soap bubbles, you can look up how they’re made in one of your science books.”

“Okay.” Hiram and Nila ran inside.

“Is that a game you played as a child?” Sian asked.

Lidiya took the dish and the wand inside. “It is. My older sister did it for us until I was old enough to do it for the younger ones. Then I did it for them. We’d play for hours outside, when we weren’t working the farm, with soap bubbles, a ball, in a sand box my parents gave us, all sorts of things to fuel our imagination and burn off our energy.”

“I don’t think I’ve seen Hiram and Nila have that much energy,” Sian commented.

“Oh, they have it. You’ve just scared them into not releasing it. Why do you think they struggle to sleep at night?” Lidiya countered as she washed the dish and set the wand to the side. “They’ve still got too much energy and don’t have any way to expel it. They should have an easier time going to sleep tonight.”

“You think they need more time to play?” Sian asked.

“They ned to burn off energy, Sian. Running around outside, chasing balls, exploring their environment, these are things they need.” Lidiya turned to her husband. “I know you weren’t encouraged to do that, and didn’t you tell me you suffered from insomnia from an early age?” Sian nodded. “That would probably have helped you instead of sticking you in front of a screen all day.”

Sian frowned. Lidiya knew why. He didn’t like hearing his parents’ way of raising him and his siblings challenged. But Lidiya knew she was right. Children needed to get out and run around and play. It was an important part of their development.

“If you think it’s necessary, Lidiya,” Sian told her finally. “Get whatever you need to encourage them to play.”

“Thank you, Sian.” Lidiya didn’t plan on going overboard. A few toys to send them out into the backyard with would be enough. But she hoped her children would enjoy playing outside as she had. She joined her children in the living room and pulled up the catalogue on her pad. She’d keep it within a reasonable amount, so as not to make Sian regret his decision. She smiled. Playing with the children would make her day better as well. She hummed as she looked through the toys.