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Although, there’s no running away from the fact, spending time with technology keeps the kids busy. However, it is important for you to know, too much exposure to technology can be very damaging to their health. Today, millions of parents are struggling with protecting their munchkins from the dangers of technology. With that said, restraining kids within a specific time slot might always be of great help. heck out our 6 top tips to help limit and manage the screen time of your kids.
Channel Healthy Use of Technology
Not to forget, as a parent, you need to be a role model for your kids. Because they’re small, kids will learn everything from you. For example, if you spend the entire day on your phone, it is not fair for you to expect them to keep away from technology. So before binge-watching Netflix, make sure to have a perspective on the effects of this habit of yours on the young minds. As a parent, you need to make sure kids are exposed to healthy uses of technology. For example, if you want to make emergency calls to your relatives and friends in awkward situations, you should educate your kids about doing the same. Similarly, you can train your kids about navigating through a Youtube lecture if they’re not clear about a particular concept.
Limit The Availability of the WIFI Connection
Not having a restricted time for using the internet is going to cause a lot of problems for your parenting process. Secondly, if you yourself are addicted to sifting through the internet all the time, this habit will eventually bother you a lot. Secondly, if you have signal issues in a few areas, it is best to improve your wifi connection so that your kids don’t have any problem when browsing the web when they’re allowed to do it. This way, you will rest assured that the kids won’t have any point about arguing for an extended internet browsing time. Choose a w time slot that is in coherence with the break time of your kids at home and doesn’t try to be bossy around.
Create “Tech-Free” Areas In The House
Unfortunately, the dependence on technology is too much, it is almost impossible to create a tech-free zone in the house. Seldom will you come across a household today where the intrusion of technology isn’t prevalent. Especially in areas where their need for technology is zero, try to keep them cleared from it. For example, you can set a rule in the house to not bring phones and laptops in the kitchen or dining room. Today, it is hard for families to have a discussion even when everyone is sitting together. So introducing tech-free areas in the house will make kids realize the importance of having human communication.
Use Parental Control
With massive exposure to varying content on the internet, there is a high chance that your munchkins will be exposed to inappropriate websites. To protect them from such explicit information or anything, it is best to use tools that enable you to observe parental control. If you walk through the settings of routers, websites, and mobile applications, all of them have parental control in it. This means you can block any kind of content you want. Parental control is of paramount importance for the millennial parents. Not keeping an eye on your kid’s online moves will cause a lot of problems in the future.
Educate About The Pros and Cons of Living in the Tech/Digital World
The easiest method to manage the screen time of your munchkins is to educate them about the pros and cons of using technology. Because kids are exposed to different kinds of technologies every day, they might get addicted to one and never get out of this issue. Secondly, even millennial parents overlook the excessive use of technology by their kids, which is why it is hard for them to assume control over their everyday browsing. Being exposed to technology and the internet 24/7 will easily affect their mental health and physical health equally. Research proves, kids exposed to technology all the time are at a greater risk of engaging in obesity as compared to those who don’t use it at all.
Set New Rules in The House
As discussed, you need to set several rules in the house for the betterment of your kids. If you continue to binge-watch Netflix all the time, you will eventually lose control of everything. Apart from being a role model, you also need to set healthy examples for kids. However, if your kids are already addicted to technology, you need to be mindful enough when carving new rules in the house. Restraining them all of a sudden will compel them to turn hostile. Secondly, it is best if you talk to your kids before applying the new rules in the house. You can encourage them to give their suggestions so that they feel empowered too.
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