Screen Time and Children: Reduce the time

Many parents wonder about how much screen time is ok for our children, some parent believe no screen time, others limit and some use it more than most. Kidz B Kool talks a lot about devices and gaming for kids but tries to keep it educational with a little bit of fun. Today we touch on the subject of screen time but keep in mind this is excluding screen time for educational purposes.

Screen time includes:

• Watching TV

• Watching videos and DVD’s

• Playing computer games and console games

• I would include social networking and mobile games

I came across a PDF from the SA health website, OPAL which stands for: Obesity Prevention and Lifestyle. The PDF touches on many issues we as parents worry about, screen time and if it contributes to childhood obesity.

Reading through this fact sheet a few things stood out to me:

'In a study of preschoolers (ages 1-4), a child's risk of being overweight increased by six percent for every hour of television watched per day.'

'If that child had a TV in his or her bedroom, the odds of being overweight jumped an additional thirty-one percent for every hour watched.'

'Preschool children with TVs in their bedroom watched an additional 4.8 hours of TV or videos every week.'

While my younger children do not have televisions in their rooms my oldest K-Monster (10yrs) does, its only connected to gaming consoles which we limit by having no gaming on school nights and reducing the time used on weekends and school holidays. I do this not because I know about screen time and negative impacts but because it feels right.

I’m active on a few Parenting online groups and have seen questions arise regarding the use of televisions in their child’s rooms to help sleep- this has always been a touchy subject but the science behind not having a television in the bedroom make sense, your child’s brain needs rest and I just can’t see a child getting a full night’s sleep with a television in their room. Since banning all electronics in my own bedroom my sleep has improved, which we all know how important sleep for parent is.

When you compare children who are limited to 2hrs or less of screen time a day to those children who have more than 2 hours of screen time a day you will find those with more screen time are more inclined to be:

• Overweight

• Less physically active

• Drink more sugary drinks

• Snack on foods high in sugar, salt and fat

• Have fewer social interactions.

Australian Guidelines for screen time:

• Australia’s Physical Activity Recommendations recommend that 5-18 year olds accumulate no more than 2 hours of screen time a day for entertainment (excluding educational purposes).

• Guidelines for children under five have also been released and recommend children younger than 2 years do not spend anytime viewing TV or other electronic media and for children 2-5 years less than 1 hour per day.

To read all the facts about screen time and children check out the OPAL: Give screen Time a Rest. Active Play is the Best PDF

Parents determine what activities their children participate in, we have the power to change things for the better and give our children a great start in life. I am not the first mother to put their hand up and say “I have used screen time to keep the kids out of my hair”.

Setting limits and boundaries regarding screen time will help your family to be more active. If my girls are on their iPads and I ask- hey lets go do some craft, swing on the swings, bounce on the trampoline, you know what happens?

They switch of their devices and want to play- kids prefer traditional play, especially younger children.

As a child for me television time was family time, I wanted to change this with my own family by being an active part in my children’s play time instead of doing what my parents did by sending me outside to keep myself amused which left me bored and back in front of the television.

I don’t see screen time as something bad if used correctly and in moderation, hey it gets the kids out of my hair each night so I can cook dinner. But once dinner is served it time to switch the television off and enjoy dinner as a family.

No one’s perfect, we can’t always be keeping our children amused but having them entertained by screens all day isn’t healthy - what is something you can do to limit screen time in your home?

Try some of these to help reduce screen time:

• Pay attention to how much children spend using all screen based media

• Do not put TV’s in children’s bedrooms

• Eliminate background TV

• Limit TV on School Days

• Identify Non-screen, in home activities that are pleasurable to children

• No TV in eating areas

Currently how many hours a day is your children using screen time? Comment below

*Dennison BA, Erb TA and Jenkins PL. Television viewing and television in Bedroom associated with overweight risk among low income preschool children. Pediatrics 2002. 109: 1028-1035.

*CSIRO web-site http://www.csiro.au/resources/10-steps-for-healthy-families-ScreenTime.html

*Department of Health and Ageing (2004a) Australia’s Physical Activity Recommendations for 5-12 year olds. Commonwealth of Australia.

*Department of Health and Ageing (2009). Get Up and Grow – healthy eating and physical activity for early childhood. Family book.