Worried About Your Kids' Screen Time?

Photo by McKaela Taylor on Unsplash

Are you seriously worried about your kid using a lot of screen time? Being a mom, we come across criticism for "letting" our kids use too many electronic gadgets, and for the better part of the day. This has become a norm for most of us, especially for working moms. So, let's talk about how to work it out without hampering kids’ mental health.

2020 saw most schools adopt online classrooms for high school and even kindergarten. I, too, jumped on the bandwagon and tried to balance my kid’s online education amidst finding time for myself. I found that allowing him to have a little bit of screen time could actually do him good.

Are you wondering how? The answer is quite simple. Work on a schedule to give them healthy screen time.

Just studying can make it extremely boring. So, divide learning time in between books and healthy screen time. What do I mean? Start by using educational apps to keep your kid thinking.

There are many apps, both paid and unpaid that is doing a good job at educating young kids. Break up the curriculum into 10 worksheets and 5 minutes of screen time between offline exercises.

Here are a few applications to help you get started:

1. Khan academy

I downloaded this app after a thorough online search. This had 4.3 stars on Google Play Store which gave me the confidence to move forward with it. Here are the pros and cons that followed my experiment.

Pros:

• Has an interactive interface that allows kids to make full use of the lessons
• Easy to navigate
• Attractive way of learning

Cons:

• Paid application
• Time consuming when it comes to verification

2. 123 numbers – count and tracing

Numbers can be a bit tricky when it’s time to introduce it to your kids. This app helps kids learn numbers in the best way possible. This app has been designed to interact with kids in a fun manner that keeps them curious.

Pros

• Gets 4.4 stars in Google Play Store
• Teaches not just tracing but also fill in the blanks, matching etc.
• Interactive interface
• Easily accessible
• Surprises to keep kids involved

Cons

• Only for numbers and not for alphabets
• Not many games to keep kids involved

3. Kids preschool learning games

Every child loves to discover new games, especially when they get to achieve points. This app has everything that a kid may want. Although it is a bit slow, it’s my kids’ favorite pastime learning app.

Pros

• Variety of games to improve kids thought process
• Interactive interface and easily to navigate for kids
• Introduces alphabets and numbers through games that kids enjoy
• Its’ free

Cons

• The app is a bit slow
• Games are sometimes monotonous
• Always interrupted by the ads

In this era of technology, most kids are inclined towards digital means. Keeping them away from smartphones and tablets is not practical. Their curiosity can be soothed if channeled in the right direction.

One must keep checking for new means to keep them learning. Parents must understand that no medium is bad when it comes to teaching our kids. All they want is company while they enjoy studying. YouTube has become one of the most loved apps but it’s not completely safe and kid-proof even with the parental lock.

Another tip: while you download new learning apps for your kid, just give it a test-drive yourself to check if it will be delivering the right knowledge to your baby.