Bekah has actually tried to use her dessert as a bargaining chip to get more time on the tablet.
Kids like tablets because they can take them anywhere, the touchscreen is easy to use and they can watch what they want when they want. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)Screen time guidelines
As part of a 2015 symposium, the American Academy of Pediatrics offered up the following tips to parents:› Tablets and smartphones are just a different environment for kids. Children do the same things they have always done, only virtually. And, like any environment, tablets and smartphones can have positive and negative effects.› Limit your own media use. Attentive parenting requires face time away from screens.› “Talk time” between caregiver and child remains critical for language development. Use tablets and smartphones for live interaction, e.g., a toddler chatting by video with a parent who is traveling.› The quality of content is more important than the platform or time spent on tablets. Prioritize how your child spends his time rather than just setting a timer.› An interactive product requires more than “pushing and swiping” to teach. Look to organizations like Common Sense Media that review age-appropriate apps, games and programs.› Family participation with tablets/smartphones helps social interactions and learning. Your perspective influences how your children understand their experience. For infants and toddlers, co-viewing with an adult is essential.› Playtime is important. Unstructured playtime stimulates creativity. Prioritize daily unplugged playtime, especially for the very young.› Tech use, like all other activities, should have reasonable limits. Does your child’s technology use help or hinder participation in other activities?› Create tech-free zones. Preserve family mealtime. Recharge devices overnight outside your child’s bedroom.
About four years ago, Andrew Kelsay bought an iPad for himself and his daughter Rhiannon, who was 4 at the time. These days, however, he barely gets a chance to lay a finger on the device.
“She took to it really quick. When we gave it to her, she just figured it out,” laughs Kelsay, a retired Hamilton County school teacher. “She uses the iPad a whole lot more than I do.”
Rhiannon is only allowed an hour per night with the tablet during the school year – two if it’s the weekend – but Kelsay says if he didn’t stop her, she’d drain the battery.