One thing parents all agree on …. parenting is not a one-off event. No timeline. I am not sure which genius decided that nine months in the womb doesn’t count.
Parenting starts from conception and goes on endlessly. For me preschoolers and tweens are the target groups. As they grow and learn how to answer, react, interface with others it is affecting how they interact with us, how they interpret what we are saying and asking them to do or not to do.
So WE have to keep up with them. We must realize that the new means of communication call for new skills. Face the fact , WE have to keep up with our children.
News, happenings school, fashion….we have to find a way to know what they know. As these things become important to them, our relationship with them changes.
Listen to what they say everyday about the simplest things. How do they see themselves being affected by what is happening. How much are they asking for your take on what happened.
And they are getting 99% of their information from screen time activities.
So screen time is now extended to social media, internet, mobiles, TV and the iPad or Zoom or Go Webinar and so many others.
Looking back in time it’s not about when to introduce screen time anymore.
It’s NOW:—–From chalk to screen to many screens
Screen time 2021
We read that the number of social media users jumped by more than 13% over the past year, with our mobiles being in the first place . According to Statista: “Currently, the country with the most time spent on social media per day is the Philippines, with online users spending an average of three hours and 53 minutes on social media each day. In comparison, the daily time spent with social media in the U.S. was just two hours and three minutes.” I think this has changed dramatically since 2020! as the average internet user now spends almost 7 hours per day using the internet across all devices, finding information and staying in touch with family and friends.
The challenge for Parents 2021
Parents, we now have a new challenge! How to help the kid get through the day doing homework , classwork etc. extra classes, keeping contact with those friends they can still find……and still find time for family, ordinary conversation etc. It really gets difficult when we realize that parents are also doing the very same thing.
This spread of the virus is taking its toll in terms of relationships and being able to speak those relationships in an acceptable manner.
Let’s continue this after June 2021!!
Stay Safe!