Using Screen Time as a Tool
Using screens with a child can sometimes feel a little controversial now-a-days. If you look on the AAP website, they recommend waiting until 2 years old to introduce TV at all. Then they also recommend that between the ages of 2-5, only to let your child watch a maximum of 1 hour of TV a day.
But, as your child gets older, navigating screen time is definitely a conversation worth having with your partner or your child’s caretaker. Screen time is absolutely something I use in my home with my own 3 kids. My daughters (ages 3 & 2) truthfully don’t have a lot of interest in TV, but I still use it as a tool when I need a minute of calm, or when I need them out of the kitchen.
When something is available all of the time, it stops being special. I remember being a kid and thinking McDonalds was the best thing ever. As I got older and started earning my own money, I would frequently spend it on Fast Food and Takeout. As I treated myself to McDonalds more and more, it stopped being special & I started looking at other places to eat instead. This is a weak example of instant gratification, but this example can still be applied to using screen time for our children
If our TVs are on all day, playing noisy kids shows and flashing bright colours, then when we need our kids to chill out for a minute and actually watch the TV, they will be so much less interested in it because it’s available all day. This isn’t to say that you have to turn your TV off all day, but instead, using it wisely.
Screen-time can actually be very stimulating for kids, so it’s important to limit how much exposure to screens we are giving our kids, along with the timing of it. Screens also engage our sensory systems, and for some kiddos, this can lead to tantrums, yelling, or big feelings once the screens are turned off.
My favourite time to use TV as a tool in my house, is right in the middle of the day when my 2-year old is napping. My 3-year old and I will cuddle up together and watch a movie. Not only is it distracting for her, but it’s also nice to keep her quiet during nap-time so there aren’t loud, crashing noises potentially waking up my sleeping toddler.
Our household has a Nintendo Switch and an iPad that we bust out on road-trips, but we don’t use it on the regular. We have found it too disrupting to our 6-year old’s mood, that it hasn’t felt worth it to us. That being said, those electronics are SO helpful in the car while travelling. We will download games, movies, and some pictures onto the iPad for the kids to look through while driving and it means there are way less tears while on our trip.
When using screen-time as a tool in your household, I do always recommend honouring 1 rule with it. The last hour before bedtime, turn off all screens. The blue and white light emitted from a screen can have such a negative impact on our natural melatonin production and can interfere with our ability (or theirs) to fall asleep.
How does screen-time work in your house?
