We’ve been reading about limiting screen time for children and how important it is to do so for the development of these children during their growing up years. But, as per pediatricians the same goes for adults too. They also need to restrict themselves from being on their phones or tablets or electronic gadgets all the time when off. An off hours-time or a timeout for these gadgets is needed as per JAMA pediatrics published resource.
The primary reason behind the same is that Children always pick up stuff from their parents. They pick up what they see their parents doing, the way they speak or behave. So, if parents themselves are hooked to gadgets and tell their children to stay away from them, it does not really make a lot of sense, isn’t it? Therefore, particularly when it comes to habits related to smartphone, they very much tend to pick up this habit too.
As per a developmental behavioral pediatrician’s own research, parents who keep themselves tied up to their smartphones have very less parent- child interactions and even increased rate of conflicts with their kids. Over time they even find it difficult to manage behavior of their children.
As per her a bunch of researches she did, parents who watched more television had kids also doing the same. Also, if television was in the background on then it affected their interaction as well as play of kids negatively.
As per her and co-author of University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, parents need to give a serious thought about their relationship with their smart phone or gadgets. A good idea is rather to go for a walk when feeling stressed rather than getting hooked to the smart phone. Many of the parents to get over office stress, to avoid family interactions that are difficult or other similar reasons try to get engaged on purpose to their gadgets. So, whenever you are on phone try to keep track of the time spent be it on social media or email checking, etc.
Matter of the fact is that multitasking ain’t easy and many a times affects efficiency negatively. Same is the case with parenting say researchers. They also recommend that parents find a solution and a time when their time with their family and kids is not affected and they can do their phone related stuff as well. They need organize their time schedule and say strict no to smartphones during mealtimes, bedtime and specific time allocated for spending with family or doing certain tasks and activities together.
As per another researcher parental screen time can pose a safety issue for children as children could be left unsupervised at that time plus it could also take away the time that could be rather spent with children in a face to face chat.
In a nutshell, parents are the role models for most to the kids and keeping the point in mind, parents first need to improve their own behavior in order for children to follow.
