How Kids Can Keep Growing Thanks to Connectivity

Well then … here we are almost at the end of the year. How are things on your side? I honestly wonder how everyone is dealing with this pandemic.

For us, without sugar-coating anything, I am quite overwhelmed and can’t wait for things to start looking up. I can’t help but feel our kids are missing out on crucial and also meaningful ways to socialize. While both kids are still too young to be in school, they are still able to learn and gain a lot just by attending karate, swim, or even music classes. The same aspect applies when spending time with friends, family members, and exposure in our community. It is very stressful. This time is challenging for everyone, but it is undoubtedly more difficult for so many parents. With much luck, we have managed to find age-appropriate classes, resources, and activities online to participate in and enjoy together.

Of course, these online activities are very much reliant on the internet. That’s one thing that makes me sad though, I know many other parents, including personal friends, who struggle with this particular situation because they don’t have reliable connectivity. To address this ever-growing concern, T-Mobile has launched a new project to help families –Project 10Million, delivering internet connectivity to millions of underserved (student) households at no cost to them. This specific project is very near and dear to my heart, as is any other related to children because I truly believe all kids deserve the opportunity to thrive and learn.

These days, there’s no 9-to-5. There’s no set time for going to school, having a break, getting naps, and so on. While there’s no fixed hour to an individual activity, I make sure that every day our son Josiah King, and I get to spend time checking out different online programs. That’s because kids thrive the most with routines. Especially if it is something they find entertaining and genuinely enjoy, then they look forward to repeating the same task. His favorite, in particular, is ABCMouse early learning academic curriculum. It’s a great resource to teach kids that fall in the age group of PreK through second grade (2 – 8+). Then we would also watch and follow along with some workout videos for his at-home “Physical Education” activity. We also utilize coloring pages and workbooks that we can conveniently print as needed.

On that note, have you ever felt strongly about any project? That’s how I think about Project 10Million. Just in case you aren’t aware, even before the pandemic, there were more than 9 million of America’s 56 million school-age kids who did not have any access to reliable internet. Now, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s an unprecedented 50 million students who are currently learning remotely. As heartbreaking as it is, those without reliable internet connectivity face an even more significant schoolwork gap as they cannot participate in any online classroom learning. In early September, T-Mobile officially launched Project 10Million, an unprecedented $10.7B initiative to address the persistent homework gap experienced by more than 9 million children across the country who cannot get online to complete at-home assignments. Through school districts, Project 10Million offers free wireless hotspots, up to 100GB per year of free high-speed data, and access to at-cost tablets and laptops, or the equivalent value of approximately $500 annually per student household.

Bonus: T-Mobile Tuesdays has also offered online kids educational platforms for a FREE time period in previous weeks.

XOXO