Screen time talk for preschoolers

It is essential to understand that the first 2 year in the life of babies are the formative years for their brain’s development. Exploring their environment and exposure to varied sights, sounds, tastes, and textures becomes an integral part of this process. The more the interaction with people, the better the child gets equipped with learning about the world and getting comfortable in it. During these years, they form a connection with the world and the people around them.

Experts express their expertise

According to the American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP), babies above the age of 18 months old can enjoy a few minutes of screen time every day and it could further be increased to a couple of hours per day once they become toddlers and enroll into preschool.

Toddlers from 18 months to 24 months can start to enjoy the liberty of some screen time with parents and/or adult supervision since it is a crucial period as children around this bracket of age are capable of listening, understanding, learning and comprehending things on their own. Hence, ensuring and enforcing lessons via quality education programmes helps them accommodate modern technology. It also helps parents bond with their little ones in a fun, engaging way with tons of learning involved.

By the age of two and three, children get easily equipped and comfortable in using technology. They are inquisitive and quick learners, and by this time, they can be enrolled into a preschool.

Screen time discipline in preschool

Pre-schoolers learn by interacting with the world around them. Interacting with the environment their parents created for them. While it is absolutely necessary for them to be physically active and indulge in outdoor physical activities like running, climbing, interacting with other children on the playground physically to develop physical posture and optimize their energy, screen time can help reinforce learning and stimulate creativity with visual exposure via educational programs, games, and apps.

Read also: How to Deal with Homework Overload

Pre-schooling post pandemic

Like everything else in the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a massive shift in the way that schools and pre-schools function. Everything else and everyone else swiftly adapted to the new normal after a few months. The second wave of the pandemic hit us and left, but the schools, colleges, preschools, all the educational institutions have accommodated everything that is to accommodate – online. Gone are the days when parents would drop their little ones off at a place where there would be other kids from other homes in close proximity with their children, without any apprehensions. Now parents across the world are constantly looking for best online classes for preschool.

Online pre-schools have led us to believe that children can be kept occupied, their energy can be optimized, and learning can be maximized in the one hour’s time without being concerned about them coming into contact with another child and contracting something.

How to crack the screen time knack?

Since children need adult supervision and guidelines on screen time and usage of internet, here’s a few hacks you can use to optimally utilize the screen time and bond with them.

–          Invest yourself

The most vital thing to do as an adult/parent here is to be completed vested in whatever activity your child is engaged in online. Whether it is a toddlers’ game, cartoon videos, or a fun, interactional educational preschool programme, you need to ensure that you are fully invested in it and exhibit peak interest to enjoy the time thoroughly. Spend time laughing and answering their questions, ask questions and exuberate energy and interest in the activity, and reassure them that spending screen time together can become a part of your routine and try to avoid getting distracted by your own devices.

–          Robust research

Online preschools can be fun and engaging but you might still need to monitor everything that your child engages in. It is important that everything gets filtered by you before it reaches the kids. So robust and reliable research to ensure the time being spent on screen by your pre-schooler kid is only for educational purposes so they learn something new everyday at the online preschool and you can be a part of the process . BeyondSkool has derived intriguing curriculums to ensure the screen time for your child is optimized into learning. You can check it out here:

–          Schedule non-screen time

To strike a perfect balance between physical and mental development of your children, you might want to schedule enough of time through the day when they are supposed to stay off the devices completely and interact with the world around them. Encourage plenty of play time and get them to indulge in physical activities every day. Establish a routine and try to reduce your screen time around them, during meals, and at least an hour before bedtime.

–          Set clear boundaries

Turn off electronic devices when not being used. Leaving screens on in the background seems practical while you are wrapping up your Zoom meeting, but it is not ideal. When you are off the devices and screen, focus on other activities to help with your children’s development and learning through other mediums.

These are some of the easiest hacks to enable a healthy lifestyle with enough of screen time for your pre-schooler to learn, grow, and develop in a world that is evolving every day with modern technology and adapting to it.

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About Beyond School:

BeyondSkool is the Largest Upskilling Academy for Kids driven by a mission to upskill kids beyond conventional school curriculum and empower them to become Smart Thinkers, Innovators, and Influencers by boosting their IQ, CQ, and EQ .

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