Screen Time for Kids

 

As parents we all hear / know that too much screen time for our kids (or for ourselves for that matter) is not good. But why? And how much screen time is too much?

All researches seem to agree on the fact that we need to keep kids’ screen time to a minimum for health, psychological and educational benefits. However, recent studies seem to show that parents believe that technology and “gadgets” are of help to their kid’s development. Kids own tablets and/or phone at a very young age. Of course the reasons behind this are easy to understand (and fall for): convenience, keep the kid entertain, hope for him/her to be tech-savvy…The truth is, no matter the content, purpose, support (TV, educational, video games, homework, phone, etc.) ; screen time is screen time and should be limited as it is linked to several issues in children: 

• addiction
• lower academic grades
• lack of social connection
• increased incidence of illness
• decreased “problem solving skills” needed in real life
• sleep disruption (particularly if used before bed time)
• health issues (obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease)
• premature mortality ???

Below the maximum screen time advised by different health organizations and experts:

AGE	Recommended Screen Time
<2 years old	None
2- 5 years old	<= 1 hour / day
5-18 years old	<= 2 hours / day

The French government recommends no screen time for children under 3, and has even banned TV programmed aimed at this group. Australia and Canada have similar guidelines. Some Asian countries even have legalized for parents to monitor how much time their kids spend in front of a screen (though this may be extreme measures)…

You might also be amazed to learn that plenty high techs leaders send their kids to school that exclude screen time until teenage! When a technology journalist suggested to Steve Jobs, in 2010, that his children must have loved the just-released iPad, he replied flatly: “They haven’t used it. We limit how much technology our kids use at home.”

Now, if you worry that by removing any screen time your kid may be bored, comfort yourself with the fact that many professionals agree that being over stimulated is worse than being bored. Children need to learn how to deal with boredom with healthy alternatives: Physical activities, Social activities, Hobbies …

Where my daughter goes to daycare in the Netherlands, they are true believer that over stimulation is not good for kids, the space is studied to limit the amount of colors, noisy/electronic toys: kids have fun playing with each others, educational toys using their imagination, arts and crafts, and playing/going a LOT outside (weather is not even that great there, but if it is not extra windy/rainy they spend time out). It is so nice as a parent seeing your kid having fun jumping outside, gardening, playing with sand…

Also note that background noise at home (TV/radio turned on in another room), also ruins your child’s concentration.

My last comment to close that topic: remember that parents set the example. So if your kids see you regularly turn on the TV when you get home, or while eating dinner ; they will take that as a standard and reproduce it. I know it’s a bummer, as honestly when I get back home home from work and walking the dog, or when it is grey and rainy outside, I would sooooooo feel like putting a nice movie and lay down – and honestly still do from time to time. So I am not saying you can never do that, just be aware of the influence you have on your child and what you are setting as standards for him/her.

 

Sources:

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/may/23/screen-time-v-play-time-what-tech-leaders-wont-let-their-own-kids-do

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/feature/digital-home/how-much-screen-time-is-healthy-for-children-benefits-3520917/

https://www.aap.org/en-us/advocacy-and-policy/aap-health-initiatives/pages/media-and-children.aspx

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2014/08/28/343735856/kids-and-screen-time-what-does-the-research-say

Introducing Baby and Dog for the 1st time

This is a video we made the first time we came back home from the hospital with
our baby girl, and how we introduced her to our dog (black Labrador).



As a note: I am not saying this is THE way to do it. We have put quite a lot
of training into him so his behavior may not reflect another dog’s. One good
advice we were given, is to bring every day from the hospital, one of the linen
used to swaddle our baby and put it in our dog's bed. This way he gets used to the
baby smell, and eventually understands when he sees her.

Shaving your Baby’s hair

My husband’s mother is Russian, and in Russia there is a tradition that you shave (= cut very short) a baby’s head when he/she turns 1 year old. She had it done to herself, and did it to her 3 kids (2 daughters, 1 son). Talking with different people from different backgrounds, I have learned that quite a lot of different cultures do it as well (some several times during the kids growth): eastern Europe, India, Korea, Vietnam, Greece, and many others… The reason for this? It may be a tradition, linked to religion or a particular belief, but they also all agree with the same outcome: shaving your baby’s head is supposed to help the hair grow evenly and thicker.
Hmmm… interesting… Beautiful thick hair, well that is definitely something I wish for my daughter! She has quite good genes already on that end, but I have to admit, when I see the result on my mother in law and sisters in law, I can’t help but think that if one shaved head at 1 year old is the price to pay it is definitely worth it! Now, it is not something we do in France so I have to admit I had quite a pinch in my heart cutting my beautiful baby girl’s hair (she had by far the longest hair of her age group and I was so proud of this!).
Putting some thinking into this, it also made a lot of sense to me: from my teenage time my mom kept on telling me never to shave but always to use wax or the epilator – as shaving would only make my hair grow thicker. And this is a true fact by the way, I shaved my legs a couple times and it took me a month of using the epilator twice a week (rather than once) to get my growth back to normal. It was awful and I hated it – and swore never to use the razor again lol. (I will write a blog entry about this). But if you do not believe this, then you can try shaving your upper lip, or you forearm for instance, and see how the hair grows back: my bet = thicker.

To sum up = I did it! My good (Greek) hair dresser friend trimmed my baby girl’s hair at around 1 year of age. Today, 1 year later, my husband and I think this was indeed a great decision and will do it as well for the second. Her hair have grown back so thick, nothing like those baby hair she had before – I think they are even thicker than mine! She beats all the kids of her entourage. At her daycare the nannies love to do her hair because she is the only one with such a head full of hair. The only inconvenient: she does get quite hot from the head in the summer time…
You can see below the before/after pics. Please let me know if you did it as well / or consider doing it or what you think about this, I would love to read your story.