I remember being a little girl

Sitting on the sidewalk with my bucket of sidewalk chalk

Drawing pictures of fish and of flowers

That really just looked like scribbles on the cement

I would shake the Etch-a-Sketch and start again with my imagination running wild

Color outside the lines in my princess coloring book

And sometimes color on the walls.

Today's children will never experience the joys of sidewalk chalk and Etch-a-Sketch

Of discovering the difference between Goldenrod and Dandelion in the box of crayons

Of drinking water from the garden hose and jumping on the trampoline with no safety net

Today's children will learn to draw on Doodle Buddy

Will drink only purified water because their parents are too scared to let them sip from hoses

Will never shake the Etch-a-Sketch

Or have tea parties with stuffed animals

Because they will be serving dinner on Restaurant Story

There is nothing wrong with technology

Nothing wrong with the advancement of society towards the sleeker, easier, more efficient methods

But children are growing up chained to screens

Touching but never feeling

Hearing but never listening

Seeing but never understanding

Expecting everything to be right here, right now

Rather than taking the time to run through rain puddles and jump over the cracks in the sidewalk

They grow up too fast, lacking the experiences that will create memories

They won't remember sliding in sock feet across hardwood floors

They'll remember sliding a finger across glass screens.