CHILDRENS' SCREEN TIME IN THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS

Helping kids develop good habits around screen use becomes even more important during the school summer holidays, as they have more time on their hands!

For children's healthy development, a balanced lifestyle with a variety of activities is key. These include fun pastimes such as reading, meeting friends, playing, creating, and more. Screen time can be incorporated into this list, as long as it's in moderation. In particular, it's important to guard against screen time affecting children's sleep. Below, you'll find a number of tips that can help your child to develop in a well-rounded manner, without excluding screen use entirely.

FAMILY GUIDELINES

You might want to set out some guidelines or rules within your household, to help your little one to gain a healthy balance of screen time and other activities. These guidelines can be presented in a gentle way that won't seem like a harsh restriction. This way is more likely to encourage your child to stick to them.

These guidelines can come in many forms. For example:

• How your child can use the device - for a creative activity or learning but not for gaming

• When your child can use the device - only after school, not during dinner, and not until their homework is done

• Where your child can use the device - not in their bedroom, only where they can be supervised

• Age appropriate material - not playing or watching something appropriate for their age but not for their younger sibling, while that sibling is around

LIMITED SCREEN TIME