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Primary Times takes a look at the five ways to get your kids away from the screen
Family time is precious, but often interrupted by the buzzing of a phone, a distracting TV show or the ping of a notification on a tablet. It can be difficult to avoid screen time, especially in the evenings after school, but there are many ways to reconnect as a family and encourage your child to put down their screens. You can set boundaries and expectations to ensure that your children have a positive experience of technology and understand that it is a privilege part of their lives. Technology has impacted learning for the better with educational games, websites and videos that will aid your children’s social and educational development, but is also vital to find a balance between time online and time in the real world. Here’s our top tips on how to reduce your child’s screen time!
1. Get Active
Going for a cycle, or walk around your local area is a great way to get your kids outdoors and involved with the family. Putting their phones down and being involved in an activity allows your children to reconnect with the outside world. Take up a physical activity with your child; it will keep them away from their screens and engaging with the world around them.
2. Time Limits
By setting aside specific time for your children to go on their tablets, phones or watch TV will allow you all to separate “screen time” with “family time.” By keeping to these set times you can monitor how much screen time your child has per day, to ensure they have enough bal-ance between screen time and social time.
3. Lead by Example
Lead by example and avoid using your phone outside of the allocated screen time, or not at meal times or when spending quality family time together. If everyone follows the screen allocated time rule, then it should benefit the whole family! If your child sees you with a book rather than on your phone, they’ll be inclined to do the same.
4. Parental Controls
Having restrictions on your Wifi is a good way to limit what your children can view online. You can also adjust the settings to shut off the Wifi connection completely to your child’s device to ensure that when the screen time is over, they cannot continue to use it. Keep hold of the chargers too, to prevent devices being used at bedtime.
5. Quality Family Time
Dedicate time to each evening to spend as a family. Take half an hour to an hour each day spending quality time together as a family or with friends, to encourage your child to social-ise outside of the digital world and reconnect as a family.
How do you reduce your child’s screen time? Share your ideas with us on the article at www.primarytimes.co.uk