With the increasingly busy lives of parents nowadays, more and more babies are being exposed to screens at a very young age. With TV channels with very young content targeted at babies, parents are exposing babies as young as less than 3 months to screens. One mother echoed that during maternity leave she had no help and while she ironed the clothes, she would put the baby in front of the TV so that the baby was entertained. As the baby grew up, TV and later on tablets and phones became a means to soothe the child, prevent a tantrum, and eat some more dinner. Whilst the mother was navigating this new world of motherhood the best way she knew how was unwittingly creating a situation which has delayed her child’s language development. The environment of constant screentime was not creating opportunities for mother and child to communicate. The result is a child who is having delayed speech, irregular sleep patterns, hyperactivity and displays addictive behavior when screens are taken away from her.
This situation is unfortunately not uncommon and it is very common with children with delayed speech who has no other medical or developmental conditions.
A few rules of thumb that parents can use to manage the screentime of your children
Try to limit your child’s daily Screen time to
- Zero hours for under-twos
- 2 hours for three to five-year-olds.
- Always turn off the TV when no one is watching because constant background noise can distract you and your children from playing, listening, and talking to each other