Activity

You raise an important topic, a challenge in today’s screen-saturated world. Children who spend excessive time in front of screens, rather than speaking and interacting directly with other human beings, can over time lose language and socialization skills. Day-to-day and hour-to-hour routine human interaction helps toddlers integrate things like the meaning of facial expressions and other non-verbal communication, as well as verbal skills. So in the end, parents need to supply an abundance of time to be old-fashioned, and allow their children to experience human face-time.

The reality is that “screens” are not going away – ever! But – with that said – there has to be a happy medium, just as in all other aspects of life. Everything in moderation! Electronics are extremely important and valuable to our everyday lives, but they have taken over face to face conversations and interactions that are vital to our health, our community, and emotional well-being. They have replaced traditional play and using our imagination. And worse I think is that they have created a very sedentary population. Education regarding this topic is going to be extremely important in the coming years and the reintroduction of outdoor play time, board games, and limits on screen usage with our young ones. Parents are the deciding factor in this ultimately. As a parent you want the very best for your child, so I say – parent to parent – educate yourself on the negative consequences of too much screen time and set firm limits now!