A few evenings ago, I was checking messages on my phone. After sending my last message, it occurred to me that although our whole family was together in the same room, it was unusually quiet. I looked up and that’s when I saw them: The Devices.
My husband was on his laptop. My kids were on their tablets. And I, of course, was on my phone. Were we becoming that family?
Our evenings weren’t always this way. In fact, right up until last Christmas, it was never this way. We used to play cards or board games at night. We’d read stories, play with Legos, or bake a dessert. When our kids were on screens, it was because we would let them play on our phones for just 45 minutes a day.
And then came Christmas.
Our ten-year-old, Joshua, had been asking for a gaming system for two years. When he first started asking, he told us that many of his eight-year-old peers had video games at home and that it wasn’t fair that we were different. We listened, but we stood our ground. No electronics.
But just before Christmas Joshua told us some news. He said that he was sitting alone at lunch, not talking to anyone else. Lunch made him sad, he said, because all his friends were talking about video games and he had nothing to share. We felt guilty about his loneliness and decided to rethink our stance.
We started by researching various tablets and related apps. We were looking for ways that our children could play games without talking to or playing with people online. We thought that with the right settings and supervision, we could live with giving our kids Kindle tablets.
So our kids had a great Christmas! But every day since, we’ve limited their screen time to no more than one hour per day. For my daughter Caitlin – who last year received an ADHD diagnosis - I feel this is especially important.
ABC news recently reported on a study out of the University of Alberta. The study’s results showed that “by the age of 5, children who spent two hours or more looking at a screen each day were 7.7 times more likely to meet the criteria for a diagnosis of ADHD when compared to children who spent 30 minutes or less each day on a screen.”
So we’ve limited our kids’ screen time, and we closely monitor all of their games and activities. When they’re using their tablets, we like to draw their attention to elements which promote learning, such as the PBS Kids app, Kindle books, or audio books.
This method seems to work for us: our kids are able to play on electronics, and as parents, we’re still able to ensure that our kids play within their limits.
And Caitlin? She seems more interested in the lulling aspects of an audio book or drawing program. She’s able to use her device to calm her down and help her regroup before setting off her next big adventure.
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