REMOVE ALL SCREEN TIME.
Many articles had talked about it, scientific studies had proven it, real anecdotes reported, but parents all over are still making this mistake in parenting.
I assess children on a daily basis and have seen close to thousands of children, out of which, more than half had short attention span, were disruptive in class, and were not learning well.
Whenever these symptoms are observed or are told to me, I will pop the question, “How much time does he/she spend in front of a screen in a day?”
And I’ve had a 99% hit so far that they had spent more than 1 hour a day in front of a screen.
The length of time these children spend in front of a screen (including iPads, handphones, televisions, DVD players etc.) are usually, on an average, more than 30min per bout of time. The gadgets are usually used to distract them from danger when Mummy is doing the chores or during meal times, to keep them sitting quietly so the parents can enjoy a meal in a restaurant without a melt-down to handle.
REMOVE ALL SCREEN TIME.
It’s difficult, I understand… I’ve had a difficult-eater myself. I too, fell into the temptation of letting him watch videos on the iPad than have him refusing all food… But it’s a vicious cycle. It’s just like a drug addiction, the more you show, the more they need it to behave/comply. Withdrawal symptoms are even evident if you deny them the screens! They will get into an uncontrollable fit and become renegades by digging into out-of-bound zones just to look for the “hidden drugs”.
These “drugs” (screens) come in all forms. They vary from television to handphone and iPads. Some even had DVD players installed in the car. No matter the form, they are all evil to a child when enjoyed for more than 30min per bout.
The worst case scenario is those who were so highly “intoxicated” that TVs no longer attract them. They get bored and move on to other things in split seconds, unable to settle down on any activities for long. These are signs of over-exposure.
It is SCARY. Scary how parents see it as their children’s personality, how they resign to the fate that their child is hyper-active or that they are born like that.
It’s never too late to change that, no child is too damaged beyond repair. All you need to do is REMOVE ALL SCREEN TIME… NOW.