Parents Of Gen Alpha Vs Screen Time

I'm with you @blindpup10

I loathed screen time for my child and what it did to her. As a SAHM, I must say I read up on the topic and experimented voraciously with her.

She thrived when she didn't get much screen time AND when we weren't hooked to gadgets either.

I couldn't cut put screen time completely - because of skyping with family but until she was past 3 and in school she didn't know tv characters. Didn't hold her back in school or socially. Later she got about 20-30 min telly totally over the weekend or a bit more during school holidays like 20 min a day.

We play songs in the background on the ipad though and sometimes she does Wath it but more often than not she isn't looking .

Yes, there are a LOT of educational programme. I felt real life experiences mattered more. It was clear that my child wasn't about to ask me to turn off the telly at any point. Once I was ill and I let her watch some show for an hour and I felt behavioural issues came by because of that - she was restless. She couldn't focus on anything offline and kept asking for more screen time. So we really minimised it.

Also research shows that the attention span of the child is severely impacted when the telly is on in the background even if it isn't the child isn't watching it.

Now we probably have 7 or 8 kids apps on the ipad. She gets to play them during school holidays. Other than that, at nearly 6, all the work she does reading and writing and arithmetic is on paper. If she has to research a school project I make it a point to go to the library. We also look up additionally occasionally on the screens.

Now she just proudly states to her freinds I have no time for telly. There is so much to do in my free time. There are characters which pop up now armed armed gain. If she wants to watch a particular programme she's heard about in school she does over the weekend.

I feel cutting out screen time until 3 really did help my child thrive in comparison to many of her peers .

Also I live in the UK. American movies and tv like disney unnoticed changed some kids' accents and that wrecked havoc in their spellings once the school started teaching phonics. By 3.5 / 4, my child understood about different accents could stick to the local accent as she knew the language quite well by then.

 

Thanks for the wishes!

I forgot to mention my toddler is going to be 3 in couple of months, At 18 months he hardly spoke few words.. he started making 2 -3 words around 20 months and there was a sudden surge of vocabulary after 22 months..

Too much screen time is bad in terms of behavior issues, on days he watches over the limit, he used to become restless , so I did keep a watch on it

Apps that I remember on the top of my head: endless alphabets, monkey school lunch box, puzzles for age 2 (tiny hands), lego train app, peek-a-zoo, hide and seek apps, doodling app, there are some that you can check reviews and buy..

On YouTube I started with showing him videos for teeth brushing, basic rhymes, the control is in my hands what he watches..

When I was not pregnant, his screen time was 1 hr spread out over the day, these days its bit more but it's more like in the background..

Take care

 

@blindpup10, Dont worry. It took me some time to understand how to manage them with screen time. Yes, I play it on TV or laptop. I allow them to watch in the evening for some time. when I reach home give them some thing to drink and eat (mostly snack), that time I allow them to watch the videos on laptop placed on a kids table (in common room so I can watch). This is the time I enjoy tea, prepare for dinner, watch some thing on TV etc.. It will be soon followed by bath, homework, dinner etc.. ( I try to stay on schedule, it help me a lot) . Some of my friends allow kids to watch tv only if they finish homework. In my case screen time only in the evening.

Generally, I dont allow to watch anything when they are on dining table. It is a must that they should eat their food on dining table. We all try to eat together if we can. or I will sit/eat with them. Occasionally allow them to have some snacks in front of TV. My kids are aged >5yrs, so they understand well my instructions.

My elder one use educational apps on PC in my office room. He has to update his school provided math apps. when he was young I connected a mouse to the laptop and allow him to select videos on youtube my himself. That helped later when he started using edn apps on PC. Recently we allow him to play minecraft on PC ( question will be.. Do you like to play minecraft or watch laptop youtube videos/ tv cartoon/ dvd movie? only one per day). On weekend, they have more screen time.

When they are very young, it is difficult to make them to understand. With time it will improve, especially when they are above 4yr. But we should stick on what we instruct. Don't change it. When they were very young I used to play youtube videos( alphabet songs, nursery songs, etc.. )in mobile or TV/PC and made them to eat or watch by sitting on my lap. I got saturated with all those songs..But I have to admit, they learned all the alphabets, numbers by them selves by these songs. Slowly I allowed them to watch by themselves, I will be around. Later they switched their attention to kids movies, cartoon, science videos etc... I noticed that my son like to watch more science videos than movies. But their interest keep on changing..If they dont listen I take away the laptop or dont allow to watch , so they know very well that, I stick to what I instructed. It helped

I tell them that TV/ PC/ laptop/tab etc are for everyone, not for a single person. So everyone has to share it. It helped me. Earlier I used to give one a laptop , another a tablet, but they both were fighting over tablet. I think they find the idea of taking some thing in their hand very attractive. I used to give them old mobile to watch videos but soon stopped it. No small screen videos games. It is better for them watch something on larger screen. I have an old TV devoted for DVD movies. But when we travel, we allow them to watch dvd on their own dvd player or play with tablet etc..

 

@blindpup10
My DS is almost 3 and he gets some screen time at home. I wish i can make is zero, but unfortunately i cannot as he will need me always would not allow me to do any work. Here are few things i have made as a rule.

1. No youtube/apps in phone or Ipads, Only thing he uses is my phone (my DH phone or others not given any time) during face time or watch his own videos.
2. Screen time is only on TV with Comcast and only education rhymes are played in the morning and evening may be 6:30-8:00. He enjoys those and will sing along and count along with them. Some time we also dance with those.
3. No phone or Ipad when go outside even at restaurants. Since i never give them out side he will not ask and i generally hide it my purse.
4. Since I have regulated screen time he gets upsets when we switch it off. I have tough him how to on and off and he does the on his own with out any fuzzyness.

 

dont worry about speech yet...he will surprise you around 22-25 months timeframe...but do keep talking to him A LOT...whenever I was doing anything, I would be just speaking up and involving him, telling him this is what I am doing...making stories out of nowhere etc....my DS liked tab but if I took it away from him, he wont cry because I would have the distraction ready like playing on slides or bathtime or his fav kitchen stuff (mixing dals/atta/namkeen etc)....
I had a really hard time with him sleeping at that age, he would take a nap around 4-6 then would not sleep until 2 am...finally he cut his nap time to zero around 22 months, things are much better, at 33 months now, he sleeps 12 hrs straight and has a wake time of 12 hrs....I am trying for him to wake up by 9 am and sleep by 9 everyday...
we have never given our son time outs so far, but tolerate his tantrums....most of the times, he wants to play in the bathtub or make a mess in the kitchen....sometimes, he is fed up staying at home and wants to go out in the night (during winters), if we can we take him to walmart/target but now I dont allow them to step out in the night with all sorts of hate crimes happening....I tried giving him one time out now that I remember, it did not affect him, he was happy locked inside the room playing with diaper box and some other stuff...

 

I have also seen a lot of kids doing it, thats why i never giving.

I feel its better than watching youtube or games on phones as there is limit and in 15-20 he will be bored and give it back to me. Once while we were driving he was getting cranky, so gave my phone to view his videos, he closed it and opened safari and gave it to me (He wanted to watch youtube). I closed it and opened videos and gave it back to him. This happened at round 10 times and eventually he stopped giving me back and started looking out side. Now he even stopped expecting youtube videos in my phone. Some times its very tough we have to stick to it, if they find a soft spot then they take full advantage of it.