Kids and Screen Time

So I have to guiltily admit that my children have more than two hours of screen time per day.

As long as I've had kids (and probably longer) there have been countless articles and news programs where "experts" on parenting tell us that giving a child more than two hours of screen time a day can hurt them. They bring up scary words like ADD, obesity, behavioral disorders, etc and blame these things on screen time. Well, as a child of the 80's, I watched copious amounts of tv and played my NES until my fingers bled and I have trouble buying it.

To clarify "screen time" doesn't just encompass tv. It's everything; tv, computers, video games, ipods, kindles, ipads, DS's and smart phones. I would agree that plopping your kids in front of a tv for 10 hours a day is probably not a great thing, but I would argue that "screen time" is actually essential to growing children who can thrive in society in 10-20 years. Do you really think that your kids are going to be carrying around textbooks when they go to college in 10 years? Even kids in college now do most of their studying, writing, and learning on a computer. There are elementary schools that have started replacing books with tablets. Did you know that they don't even teach cursive anymore? Heck schools barely teach handwriting. Children spend a lot more time learning to type.

I disagree with the school of thought that says we need to be careful of the "screens". Instead, I say embrace them because they will be essential in the life of you child. I homeschool my children and a big part of my curriculum involves computer-based learning and games. I feel that in our technology driven society my children will have a better chance at being successful if technology in integrated into their lifestyle rather than limited and policed constantly. Altogether my kids definitely have more than 2 hours a day on various devices because it's a part of their life and rather than being appalled by that, I'm encouraged by that. I think we get this image of fat children glued to a tv, eating refined sugars and getting no sunlight, but the modern kid doesn't have to be that way. 

My girls are 6 and 8 and they learn with the computer through online curriculum, 90% of their reading is on the ipad, then they play with their ipod touches and yes they watch tv. But you know the funny thing is that even with all these electronics in their lives they rarely sit around. I worried when I bought them ipod touches that they would sit around all the time with them but instead they have integrated them into their play. They are always taking pictures, making funny videos, and using them to explore the world around them. My oldest even started writing her own blog on it. My kids like the tv and computers but they would rather go play at the park then do anything else and they love socializing. They are far from the fat, dim-witted, anti-social monsters that the experts said I should have.

The bottom line is that in real life screen time is not going to make your kid fat or stupid. It's all in how you use it and integrated in to their lives. Obviously, be smart about it. Use your parental controls to protect their impressionable little minds and make sure they take breaks regularly. The best way to teach your kids how to use this stuff responsibly is to model responsible usage. What does that mean? Well, do you take breaks from it? How often does your child see your phone glued to your hand? Is the tv constantly in the background? We are all guilty of tech gluttony but if you want your kids to learn how to be tech savvy without worship the technology then you have to set an example. I have always found this challenging, but it's important to make it a point to set your phone down when you re interacting with people and set aside special blackout times each week when there's no electronics on in the house and just take an hour to talk with your kids or play an old fashioned game with them. Face time is extremely important for a child's development. You can learn a lot from computers but interpersonal communication is one of those things that can only be learned one way and it is essential.

In the end technology can be a wonderful gift and a we should teach our children to use these tools because they will need them later in life. Embrace the tech!

Posted in: Life, Parenting