Topic Index
Introduction
If you are searching for any parenting tips to reduce your child’s mobile addiction, then you have landed on the correct page.
Handing your mobile phones to your child can be a sanity saver on a long car ride or when you’re in line at the supermarket. But is letting him play Temple Run, or even Skyping with Grandma, putting him in danger? You may feel pressured to provide your kids with a cell phone at an early age but aren’t sure when children are actually ready for this responsibility. For example, I will tell you my story.
Every morning, my bedroom door flies open, and my sons run in. “Can we play games? Mamma, can we watch a movie?” No “good morning,” no “Good Morning hugs,” no cuddles. Sometimes, I find it beyond frustrating that my kids are so addicted to those little electronic devices, mobile phones. Sometimes it drives me crazy.
Well, you are not alone. Many people, including teens and kids, spend hours and hours on mobile devices. I can feel that because even I try hard to restrict my own phone use, but at times, even I too fail.
So how do you help your child balance their time to play on mobile devices without it taking over? Keep reading; here are all the parenting tips you need right at this hour.
Mobile Phones – the Best Friend of Your Kids
The influence that mobile phones have on teenagers is much more severe. Teenage is a period of change. It involves changes that are biological, which in turn influences their emotional state. The dependency on digital devices is increasing day by day, forcing us to question, “Have smartphones destroyed a generation?”
Teens rely on the number of likes and views on the content they create on social media to achieve gratification. They often feel pressured by their peers to be socially active, so much that they may become victims of cyberbullying. Staying late at night chatting and scrolling on social media leads to insomnia in teens, affecting their everyday activities of life. This could be a sign of addiction among teens and should be addressed by parents by simply having a conversation with the young lads! Ask them what sites they surf, which celebrities they follow, and what kind of content they like the most. This would open doors for your teen to open up to you once they get into a comfort zone wherein they can talk to you about anything and everything!
Parents act as the first role model for children. They look up to you for inspiration and guidance from an early age. It is essential for you and other family members to set an example for your kids to learn the importance of family time. Nowadays, most parents are working and have little time to give their children. Small acts such as being offline during dinner time, having a long Sunday brunch, or playing a family board game together can do wonders to eliminate the idea of mobile phones destroying family life. Wondering what to do now? We bet these parenting tips would surely help your kids reduce mobile addiction.
Parenting Tips to Reduce Mobile Addiction in Kids
Get Active
Make sure your toddlers do something active frequently. Even if it’s just ten jumps every half an hour, bodies need to move. So help them to be in the habit of being regularly active. It’s best to break up screen time rather than allowing your kids to sit there for hours and hours.
Indulge in Activity-Based Learning
It’s one of the most useful parenting tips of all. Kids usually tend to switch to gadgets as a modem for fun and entertainment. The toys you get him to lose their charm in a few days, unlike the mobile game that has something challenging at every new level. So, why not get your kid something to play with that is challenging every time he engages in it? No, I’m not speaking of getting him a lot of new toys. Instead, what you could do is play some fun activities at home to keep him stay engaged for hours in activity-based learning.
Use Limited Introduction of Media to Reduce Mobile Phone Addiction
You should take out a limited amount of high-quality media of educational value. Say some audio/video related to learning number counting, color or shape recognition, nursery rhymes, etc. However, the length of such videos should be limited and can be escaped slowly when your baby has finished learning the same.
Act as a Role Model
As your toddler grows older, he/she will learn to imitate you. So it is important to have rules in place, which you will also have to abide by. Restricting media usage time is good for you and also allows you extra time to play with your baby. These times of interaction with them are very crucial in their development. Its also considered an important step towards creating parent-child relationships, the value of which is often underestimated.
Encourage Outdoor Activities
Playing outdoor games will help your baby learn to play with other kids. At the same time, it will also help her build gross motor skills when she runs around the ground and indulges in some outdoor play. Usually, kids tend to enjoy pretend play, and that is the best way to engage them in super fun learning. So, why not go on and start a fun game of your own with your little one? Through this, she’s indeed going to learn something and spend time with you. So, what more could you ask for?
Pro parenting tips: Fix a day and time in the week, say Saturday afternoon, to invite your kid’s friends over for lunch. Ask all of them to keep their phones aside in a basket for the entire time that they are together. Moments later, you will find them chatting, cracking jokes, talking about their childhood, and playing fun games! This will take their eyes off the screen, providing them rest and make memories to cherish for a lifetime with their friends!
Conclusion
Hopefully, these parenting tips have helped you a lot. Children are the cutest god’s creation who needs love, attention, and care. They are not fully grown to differentiate between good and bad things. This is a parent’s responsibility to stop the attraction of their babies toward technology and try to indulge them in various other games and activities which can sharpen their mind and thinking ability.
Who knows, your child might go into the wrong space? Or if he has been cyberbullied? He can’t share these with you because he will think you are a noob and won’t understand. So be patient, don’t get aggressive; it will only make matters worse. Try to converse and let the child open up. You know, communication always works.
The child is yours. Make him believe that he can bank on you.
Mobile is an addiction, and it cannot be fought without families’ help. Stand with your child.
Because together you can.
Also read..
10 Amazing and the most followed YouTube kids channels for new parents
Can’t Get Your Kids to Sleep?10 Common Bedtime Mistakes to Avoid.
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