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Challenge: Kids and Technology

4 Simple Techniques To Limit Your Kids Screen Time

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As a 90’s kid my childhood was completely diverse to technology induced life kids have now. We only got our own phones when we started going to college,TV's were the only screens we had to worry about but now tabs, smart phones are the new babysitters.

Technology is part of our life now. We learn, read, watch videos and video call every day and it’s everywhere which makes it hard for us to stay away from it even for few hours and pulls us, our family into a dangerous routine which leads to many problems.

Here are some ways which helped my family keep away from screens:

1.Make bedrooms screen free:

Have a TV only in the living room or the media room. when you don’t have TV’s or video games attached in bedrooms it doesn’t interrupt your kids sleep time and its easy for parents to keep track of what the kids watching as some parents are particular about it.

Switch the TV on only for some specific shows and switch it off when no one’s watching. Limit it to few favorite shows they want to watch. All the portable devices such as tabs and smart phones can be avoided in the bedrooms’ to an extent by having a single charging station/point in the house outside the bedrooms.

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2.Have only one charging station:

Always make it a habit to charge all the tabs and smart phones outside the bedrooms. Have a common point in the house where you charge all your devices so your kid makes it a practice to charge it at that point only and doesn’t get them into the bedrooms. This practice also keeps these devices away from us during the night. Some kids or adults fall asleep with phones beside them and on the bed which can be harmful as they emit radiations, blue light which messes with sleep and circadian rhythms.


3.Find ways to spend some quality family time :

Encourage your kid to talk a walk, play with pets, Color with washable colors or buy them a coloring book. Whenever there’s everyone home generally during the evenings when parents are off work and kids are off school you can have a “no screen time” that encourages them to spend some time with the family or you could ask them to help you with little things while cooking or cleaning the house which keeps them occupied.

4.Help them socialize:

Plan play dates with others and help them make friends in the community or school. This helps them get out of the house and spend some time with others, this way they can have some outdoor time every day. Be happy to invite their friends over and encourage them to play outside or introduce them to some great board games.

These are some efficient ways that worked for my family. Do you have some techniques that personally worked for you and your kids? Let me know in the comments below

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