The “Daily Mail” ran a headline about whether our little ones are at risk from the baby TV stations aimed at pre-school kids.
There is concern that some parents are using the TV, iphones, ipads as a form of easy and stress free babysitting – plonking their babies and little ones in front of a screen for long periods of time as it keeps them quiet.
It’s all about balance and common sense really isn’t it?
Small children need to play and interact if they are to develop their social, verbal and physical skills with other people – whether it’s mum, dad, grandma, brothers and sisters or another little one.
It’s extremely difficult to be a parent without the “electric babysitter” these days especially as some the programmes are really educational. We lead a very different lifestyle than we did 20 years ago and some of the programmes really are great…. but some aren’t!
So while I was a having a coffee in “Java and Jazz” with my great friend Chris today, we got chatting about the amount of time our older kids spend on the iPads, iphones, Play Stations, X Boxes as well as the TV & screens generally, and we chatted about what we thought was a reasonable time per day and what things we allow them to do.
It got me thinking.
What is a reasonable, balanced amount of time for you?
What programmes and games are suitable for your children?
What boundaries do you set for your kids and are they flexible as they get older?
What’s your gut reaction and instinct to this whole topic?
What do you do if you and your partner disagree?
Are you able to stand firm and say “no” to your kids…. if not why not?
Chris allows different things to me and different amounts of time too– but it’s not a competition just what feels right for each of us.
There’s been a great debate for the last number of years concerning violent TV and video games.
There are thousands of studies indicating that there really is a link between violent video images and increased aggressiveness and violence in children.
According to recent study the average child will see 200,000 acts of violence by the time they’re 18!
Common sense just tells me that this isn’t a great statistic but it’s also really difficult to prove the exact and precise impact these images have on kids.
But as a coach who works with parents, I see the frequent power struggles that come up time and time again around video games and TV watching so I just want to ask you:
I just want to get you thinking really and to make a decision about what sort of family culture you want to give your children.
It’s not about me “telling” you what to do as that’s not my job as a coach – I just ask the questions to help you find your own answers.
Our son Will, knows our rules and knows “this is what we do in our house” and also knows I don’t base our rules on what his friend’s mums and dads are doing either!
Just spend a few minutes making up your mind, setting your limits that feel right for you and doing your kids a great service by standing by your limits, consistently – no matter what!
I find it cuts down on the arguments!