Your child’s screen time is important as it plays a role in their development if you utilize it properly. Monitoring what your kid watches is hard, but you can proactively give them the best experience. Unlike before, when children could stay without screen time, itis much harder to limit their watching time due to numerous digital devices and media. Nowadays, parents expose their children to television, video games, and smartphones at an early age. Due to the educational benefits of screen time, it isn’t bad for your kid to get the experience. Still, a parent plays a critical role in ensuring success in the learning strategies, and this reading will guide you on planning screen time for your child’s development.
Setting Up the Rules
Pediatricians discourage introducing your child to screen time before they are one and a half years old. Kids TV shows forchildren aged 2-5 yearsshould aid their early learning and development. It includes programs or media that teach preschoolers body movement and other essential topics. The programming should be high quality, and kids shouldn’t be allowed to watch TV alone. Toddlers are supposed to have at least an hour of screen time daily, as too much exposure to media isnt helpful to their development. It would help to have more personal time to engage and interact with children below five years.
As a child ages, you can increase the watching time and change the materials they watch. The objective should be to make your child interactive and enhance their development. Parents must involve themselves in children’s interactions with digital devices and real-life objects. The most important thing is the media they consume, not the technology they use or screen time duration. It is about quality over quantity.
Have Limits
Too much screen time isnt healthy forchildren, and limiting the time kids spend on TVs or digital devices is vital. Parents need to set the guidelines for using gadgets. It would be best not to allow kids to use devices when doing homework, during mealtimes, or a few hours before bedtime. Another rule is to prohibit them from using digital devices in their rooms and should charge them in a separate room.
Educate Your Child on the Impact of Internet Use
Due to limited internet regulation, you cannot control what your child sees online. However, you can prepare them by educating them on the impact of media and what they watch. It includes telling them how the internet works and what to expect. By giving them the right information, you’ll not worry about their screen time as you have equipped them to make the right decision.
Teenagers need to learn the appropriate behavior when using the internet. It includes not sharing personal information online, engaging in cyberbullying, or sexting. Even after educating your teen, it is important to monitor their internet use as they are likely to explore things it suggests to them. The most important rule is to be a good example to your child as they learn alot from watching human behavior.