Guides for Guardians: Strategies to Navigate Modern Parenting Challenges
Cellphones to be Banned in Schools: What Experts Say
Schools in Quebec will ban cell phones starting from the next school year, a move welcomed by experts. Sarah Hamel and Julie Parent, authors of "Screens and Our Kids," share their insights on the impacts of screens on children's development, habits, and relations. Here are some key takeaways from their book:
Screens and the Development of Children
The research is evident that excessive screen exposure, intensity, frequency, and age impact language, communication, and parent-child relationships adversely. Screens isolate children and limit social interactions, taking up time needed for free play — one of the main drivers of a child’s development.
The Impact on Parent-Child Interactions and Reading Habits
As children are exposed more to screens, access to books and the joy of reading decline. This can negatively affect language and intellectual potential. Hamel and Parent aim to offer families tools to change their habits, giving children more time for healthy, beneficial activities.
Is the School Cellphone Ban a Good Idea?
Both authors welcome the school cellphone ban, as teenagers require guidance and maturity to develop healthy screen habits, which is challenging in a school setting. During breaks and meal times, students tend to use devices, making it difficult for supervisors to frame their screen use.
Changing Habits at Home
Hamel and Parent suggest adopting a gradual approach instead of eliminating screens altogether. They offer solutions like choosing high-quality content, which reduces the harmful effects, and examining one's personal screen use as parents play a significant role in shaping their children's habits through mimicry.
Managing Tantrums Associated with Limiting Screen Time
The authors propose a technique called "emotional weather forecasting" to help manage children's tantrums. This method involves preparing children for anticipated emotions, such as sadness, by explaining how they might feel when screens are limited.
Screen Time and Our Children
With its friendly tone and humor, Sarah Hamel and Julie Parent's book "Screen Time and Our Children" provides practical tips for families looking to change their screen habits. It covers the impacts of screens on children's development and offers strategies for finding a balance.
- Encouraged by the school cellphone ban, psychyoeducator Sarah Hamel welcomes the opportunity to debunk the misconceptions surrounding the frequency of screen usage among children.
- In their book, "Screen Time and Our Children," Sarah Hamel and Julie Parent discuss the importance of screens in home-and-garden technology, but emphasize the need to balance these conveniences with healthy lifestyle choices.
- The authors suggest that reducing the negative impacts of screens on children's development involves screenselling high-quality entertainment options, which can also be a family bonding activity.
- To minimize the adverse effects of screens on children's language and communication, parents should serve as role models by monitoring their own screen use and setting limits, as advocated in books like "Screen Time and Our Children."
- To address the potential tantrums that may arise from limiting screen time, the psychyoeducator duo offers a technique dubbed "emotional weather forecasting," helping parents anticipate and manage their children's emotional reactions to changing screen habits.
