M ILES TO NES
Making screen time
positive IN OUR NEW REALITY, AN INCREASE IN OUR CHILDREN’S SCREEN TIME HAS BEEN INEVITABLE. EXPERIENCED PRE-PRIMARY TEACHER DAPHENEY KROET TALKS TO TEIXEIRA MURRAY ABOUT HOW TO USE SCREEN TIME TO YOUR CHILD’S BENEFIT. The world has changed so much in the last few months and many countries have experienced some form of lockdown. Lockdown has brought many changes to the way parents work and, of course, how children are being educated. Screen time has now become part of the daily routine for both adults and children alike, with the use of computers, tablets, and smartphones becoming an integral part of staying connected and informed. For the longest time experts have warned parents against prolonged screen time for their little ones, encouraging more outdoor play, but now that social distancing is vital, many schools have moved to a virtual space, and so time spent in front of screens has grown significantly. Early Childhood Development specialist, Dapheney Kroet, admits that screen time is something she has also previously warned parents
to keep to a bare minimum, but with the need for education to continue through remote learning, screen time has become a necessary tool. “Unfortunately screen time has received a bad rap, and we certainly don’t want parents to leave their children to sit in front of a television for hours on end, watching empty programmes that do not enrich the child. But screen time can be a tool to help enhance the child’s learning journey and so we are learning to look at screen time with new eyes.”
Screen time must be carefully planned and selected. Kroet explains that screen time must be carefully planned and selected to ensure that programmes are educational and will stimulate and
encourage movement as well. In this way, it can offer many benefits.
Setting limits
“I want to stress that structured screen time, monitored by parents, is extremely important, but still needs to be within limits. I still would say for children under two years old there is very little benefit, other than playing a nursery rhyme here and there. Screen time for children older than two should also only be in short bursts of 10 to 15 minutes at a time. Overall, children should have a limit of three hours of total screen time within a day during the lockdown period; ideally it should be no more than an hour a day.” Using screen time as an educational tool can be fun and interesting, provided that content is carefully selected for the appropriate age group. “The more I researched and looked for educational programmes, games,
37
