Even if you’re not a parent, you most probably witnessed at least once, how two or three years old children nowadays reached the level of not asking but demanding a smartphone or a tablet for them to use it during the day.
And what most of the parents now end up doing? It’s funny, but they decide to give them their mobile phone or tablet for a few hours so that they could enjoy some peace during that time and do not worry about what their child is doing.
We all know that sometimes child care can be exhausting, but parents should understand that allowing their kid to have several hours of screen time every day may be quite harmful.
According to a study, spending several hours behind screens can hinder children’s language skills. However, what is more important here is that the negative impact can be highly reduced, and you just need to know the way out.
This article lists and discusses how screen time can affect children’s language skills, and what you can do to make those effects less harmful.
What You Might Need To Do To Prevent That Bad Impact
Set limits for the screen time
Just like for anything else, nothing is that harmful when it is used in low quantities.
Doctors say that the most suitable amount is two hours per day, for children above two years. Any longer time may result in language delays for the child.
Although two hours per day might sound just fine, parents happen to find it quite hard to keep it that much limited.
The reason for it lies in the fact that children aged from two to five express great interest towards screens, and parents sometimes fail to satisfy their child’s needs and desires, and the only way out for them seems to be letting the child watch their favorite TV show.
Then they feel like the kid seems happy, and they don’t have anything to worry about, and after all, the child spends most of the day looking at the phone or TV screen.
Source: www.aap.org
The thing is that it doesn’t matter how much you want to have your rest as a parent, remember to put on some limits because it’s meant for the well being of your child’s future.
Spend more time with your child and entertain them
Yes! There are indeed so many things for you and your child to do in your free time.
Even though we should admit that organizing anything else for your child might take a much longer time from you, but the enjoyment is for sure more than that of TV watching.
Some of the things on the list are reading books, singing songs, coloring a picture, playing in the backyard or garden. After all, you can surely find something exciting and entertaining for you and your child.
Also, with this, you’ll most probably limit the time that you spend on your phone, scrolling through social media, and become a better example for your child.
You know that children at their younger ages are like a sponge, right? They absorb almost everything they see, so limit yourself if needed and try to show them healthy habits only.
Co-view and talk to them
If you find it hard to limit your child from screen time, then the best possible thing that you can do is to watch whatever they’re watching, and make some conversations with them during or after it.
It is widely known that children learn the language best from face-to-face interactions. It would be great if you could hold some conversions with your kid, asking some questions about what they saw or understood from the video or TV show that you were watching together.
Also, mind the fact that you shouldn’t think that a program is beneficial for your child only because it educates you with something. A show, cartoon, or movie should be specifically designed to be educational for children.
Everything for children on the screens is adjusted in several ways to make it easier for the child to quickly grab an idea of what is going on and learn as many new things as possible.
To Sum Up
To conclude everything that has been said, remember how much harm excessive screen time can have on your children.
Afterward, you saw that there are quite a few great alternatives to set up your leisure time with your child, right?
So avoid finding any excuses, try your best to put in a little more effort, and you and your child will most probably have better leisure time experience and overall a more healthy routine.