TAMPA, FL--(Marketwire - Sep 22, 2011) - Litsa Bolontzakis thinks we're all living disposable lives, and that our children deserve better.
According to the Family Online Safety Institute, young people spent an average of 6.5 hours with media on a daily basis -- including TV, radio and the Internet -- back in 2004. Today, that figure is up to 10.75 hours per day. Moreover, according to Fast Food Stats, more than 50,000,000 people in the U.S. rely on fast food each year. These are stats that worry Bolontzakis, author of the children's book "Summer: The Magic Blanket" (www.hummingbirdpublications.com).
"We are a media-saturated, drive-through society, and it worries me that some kids never know what it is to go to a park, experience nature or just spend time with their parents that doesn't involve being shuttled between school and soccer practice," she said. "Time and money are the two resources most busy parents don't have in abundance, but they operate on the mistaken belief that those elements are necessary to spend quality time with their children. It's just not so."
Bolontzakis believes that the best things in life we can offer our kids take little time, and cost nothing.
"I am blessed, because I had a near perfect childhood, despite the lack of perfect circumstances," she said. "My parents were very simple people with limited means and life was hard like it is today for many families. My parents did their best to make my life happy with simple things. They focused on the seasons of the year, and they used their imagination to make every season count by showing me how nature's cycles relate to the lives we live. They didn't need to take me to Disney World or fly me around the world to do it, and if they could do it, any parent can. It's free."
Her message to parents is to take whatever time they can to turn off the TV, shut down the computer and open their children's eyes to the world around them.
"Get outside, away from the video games and the computer, and feel the sun on your skin as you read a book under a shady tree," she added.
About Litsa Bolontzakis
Children's book and cookbook author Litsa Bolontzakis is an expert on Greek cooking and that culture's easy, simple way of life.
Contact Information:
Contact:
Ginny Grimsley
ginny@newsandexperts.com