During winter break, one of the challenges parents face is how to continue to limit kids’ screen time when there’s a lot less structure in the day.
“There’s a lot of downtime,” says Dr. Christina Lee, a child and adolescent psychiatrist for Kaiser Permanente, and a lot of risks. Lee says excessive screen time can lead to sleep issues, reduced physical activity (which can lead to weight gain), delayed emotional development, behavioral and attention problems, and mood and anxiety issues.
So what’s a parent to do?
Stick With Routines
Lee suggests keeping up the routines you may already have. “If you don’t have screens during meals, if you don’t have them one to two hours before bedtime, stick to that, even during breaks,” she advises.
If you don’t have that kind of routine, work it in gradually, she says. Radical changes aren’t likely to work. “You don’t have to just suddenly say no screen time ever. So even a minor change — like, if you have never designated any time as being screen-free, just start with that.”
Lee also suggests coming up with activities to keep kids occupied. “I think the more activities and fun activities you do with your child, whatever their age may be, they’re going to be less bored and less reliant on using screens.”
That could mean an actual written-out schedule or just consciously setting up time for chores, meals, games, exercise, and more in each day. Lee suggests board games, puzzles, arts and crafts, cooking, and even a family book club. ”And then you can even reward yourselves. If you end up picking a book like the Harry Potter series, you can watch the movie after you guys have finished reading the book together.”
She also suggests getting outside when possible. “There are also going to be some days where it’s not so bad [outside]. If it’s not rainy, if it’s not snowing, you can still get outside. You can bike, you can hike, you can throw or kick a ball around. You can even just walk around at dusk and maybe visit some neighborhoods where there’s tons of holiday lights, and that’s really pretty.”
Lee says that, if possible, you should try to take a day or two off yourself. “Winter break is a time for families also to take advantage of doing some kind of fun activity as a family, because that can be really hard to fit in during the academic year.”
How Much Screen Time Is OK?
Lee says the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no more than a half-hour of screen time for a child under 2 years old, and never without a parent watching along. For ages 2 to 5, the recommendation is less than one hour, and for ages 5 and up, it’s one to two hours a day. “I think it’s important to keep in mind the quality and type of screen time that people are getting,” Lee says.
Lee says it doesn’t take long for a screen-filled week (or even weekend) to make its presence felt. “I do see an uptick in behavioral problems in somebody who already is maybe prone to having temper tantrums or just difficulty adjusting to transitions,” Lee says. “Kids, oftentimes, will refuse to go to school. They’ll have temper tantrums in the morning in terms of getting ready to go to school.”
It doesn’t stop when the school day is over, either: “They will immediately, as soon as they come home from school, want to get back on their screens, because they’ll be like, ‘This is what I did all last week, right? So why am I not allowed to do this now?’”
And her final suggestion: You may have to limit your own screen time to set the example. “You have to be a role model as a parent … because kids are like sponges. They’re going to absorb and see everything.”
Feature image, stock.adobe.com
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