In an increasingly digital age where children know how to navigate an iPad before they know how to formulate sentences, many parents are rightfully concerned about the impact of screens on their children’s development. While some parents assume that less is always better when it comes to screen time, this might be unrealistic to children constantly surrounded by digital devices. Fortunately, there are several ways parents can encourage kids to develop a healthy relationship with technology that won’t result in a fight with your little ones.
Introduce Screen Time Rules Gradually
If you want to limit your child’s screen time, it’s important to do so gradually. Cutting them off from screens suddenly will create far more resistance than slowly reducing their screen time over a period of time. “Changing your kid’s screen time habits can be a huge adjustment for them,” warns Candace Lyles, a tech blogger at Write My X and 1Day2Write. “It’s going to require a lot of kindness and patience to successfully implement screen time rules without your kid putting up a struggle.”
Provide Alternatives To Screens
Most children resort to using digital devices to cure their boredom if they are not mentally stimulated in other ways. If you wish to limit the number of hours your child spends in front of a screen, ensure to provide fun alternatives. Encourage activities such as playing outside in the yard or reading books.
If you have the time, you could take your child to the park or a local museum. Kids have naturally curious minds and incredible imaginations. With enough enthusiasm, it’s possible to make any screen-free activity engaging for them.
Set Tech-Free Boundaries
Introduce screen-free zones in your home that could include the dinner table or the bedroom. This encourages your child to respect boundaries and eliminates the temptation of using screens in those spaces.
Show Genuine Interest In Their Online Activities
Instead of abruptly ending screen time, a good strategy to help children develop a healthier relationship with technology is to talk to them about it. Ask your child about the game they played or the show they watched with genuine interest.
You could also use this strategy to encourage certain activities over others by praising those activities more. If you want to encourage your kid to spend their screen time on educational content, discuss learning games more frequently with them.
Encourage Learning Games
Of course, not all screen time is necessarily bad for children. Technology can be used to enhance a child’s education and learning. Instead of discouraging screens entirely, another strategy is to encourage healthy screen time such as playing learning games.
Learning games on SKIDOS offer numerous benefits for children. Game-based learning offers the following advantages for young minds:
- Encourages them to use their imagination
- Allows them to discover creative solutions to problems
- Improves working memory and increases memory capacity
- Teaches strategic and logic-based reasoning
- Enhances concentration and impulse control
- Promotes critical thinking
By using learning games to support children’s learning, kids are more likely to develop a healthy relationship with technology as well as education. Learning games prove to kids that learning can actually be fun.
Use Screens To Connect With Loved Ones
To help kids build a healthy relationship with technology, exhibit how screens can actually bring them closer to loved ones. Interact with your child by playing online games together. You could also watch a show or movie with them. Engaging with your children while they use screens teaches them that screen time doesn’t always equal to being alone.
“Interacting with screens together helps your child realize that technology can connect them to their loved ones,” advises Tina Clark, a technical writer at PhD Kingdom and Britstudent. “Playing a video game or watching a movie together can also create fun memories with your child.”
Be A Role Model
Your child is more likely to develop a healthy relationship with technology if you have a mindful relationship with screens yourself. Children love to mimic the behaviors of their parents. By limiting your own digital use, you might find more success with reducing your child’s screen time.
Conclusion
The ubiquity of screens in this modern era makes it more challenging as a parent to restrict your child’s digital use. By limiting your child’s unhealthy screen time while embracing the benefits of a healthy screen time, you can help your child build a healthier relationship with technology.
George J. Newton is a tech content specialist and editor at Essay writing services and Dissertation help. He has been married for ten years, perfecting the art of the apology throughout. You can find more of his articles on developing healthy relationships with digital devices at Nextcoursework.com.
