Are you looking for tips to reduce your child's screen time?

Are they making it meaningful or  are they wasting the precious growth years ? 

Have you ever had to ask your child to put down the...

Tablet

Game system remote

Mobile phone

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Our world is dominated by technology, regardless of our age. Technology is a part of almost every aspect of our daily lives these days. Being a parent is sometimes challenging because you want your child to have screen time. You also want to ensure the skills learned prior to technology aren't forgotten. Consider social interaction, written communication, and gathering information from written sources only, rather than audio/video sources.

Screen time is already a favorite pastime for your children, so take advantage of it. 

Using FaceTime, Zoom, or any other free online meeting space to work together on learning activities is an effective way to motivate your child to get to know his peers. Your child will not only learn to use technology, but will also improve their collaboration skills by interacting with another person in real-time. 

Obviously, you will need to set some guidelines to ensure the work gets done and not just chit-chat, but it will be worth it.

For entertaining your kids, Netflix Kids, YouTube Kids, and the like are most likely the best choices. The content that appears on all of these channels has been filtered (and even triple filtered) in some way (or more), but as a parent, do you feel it is the most appropriate for your child to learn? 

The media that children consume today has been curated based on various social issues and demographics. In addition to providing just-right content for little ones with free flow platforms, they often play new videos automatically, which allows untimed consumption of media. Sometimes watching back-to-back shows may not be recommended due to the circumstances. 

wonderLearn recommends screen time for children to be broken up into smaller and more digestible periods of time. In addition to these small windows of time, there could also be an even balance in content types, for example, a 10 minute song and rhyme segment, a 30 minute class segment, and a 15 minute story segment. Having the information broken up will allow young learners to digest the information better since they have a shorter attention span.

In spite of screens being a part of today's culture, reducing screen time has health benefits, including improved physical health, decreased obesity, and more time to play and explore. For children, spending considerable time while learning can cause physical and mental problems. It's important to take regular breaks for physical activity. Plan what your children will do after school. 

These 6 tips can help you trim your children's screen time

• Be responsible

With your children, set expectations about screen time and set goals for reducing it.

• Keep a realistic perspective.

Start by setting smaller, more attainable goals for your children if they spend a lot of time on screens, such as watching TV. As an alternative to jumping straight to the recommended one to two hours per day, try cutting their current screen time in half first.

• Engagement is key.

Make sure you spend time each day talking to your kids face-to-face and giving them your undivided attention.

• Keep hand-held devices out of sight.

Place electronic devices at a charging station in a common area during screen-free hours to prevent them from attracting attention.

• Create a phone-free zone in your home.

An easy way to start is to make family meal areas a phone-free zone.

•  Leave the house.

You feel happier and more energized when you put down the phone and go for a walk or play outside. Make it a habit that your child gets ample playing around time. This boosts your mood and improves your physical health.

There is nothing wrong with stretching out screen time every now and then. Making a schedule is one way children can help plan their routine. Children will follow it better if they are involved in the process.

Setting realistic expectations can help you set limits that work in practice.

You and your children may be struggling because of excessive screen time, so remember to have compassion, it will help you in a free flow of communication, while setting patterns and routines.