Sharing our personal experience when it comes to screen time in relation to the sleep disturbance of our eldest son.
Screen time is one controversial topic when it comes to parenting. I
understand a lot of medical experts oppose gadget use by small children
because they say that electronic devices have adverse effects on kids. On
the other hand, most parents these days rely on gadgets especially when they
are busy with house chores and work to keep their kids entertained. I can
perfectly relate to my fellow parents because Mommy Khris and I also let our
kids watch nursery rhymes and children’s show on tablets and smartphones but
for a limited time only. In the end though, we realized that removing
gadgets altogether from our daily routine maybe the best for our
children.
Screen Time And Sleep Disturbance In Toddlers [Our Experience]
Benefits of gadget use
Before going to the reason why we are eliminating gadget use, let me just say
that I’m a believer that gadget use among children shouldn’t be depicted as
something that will transform them into robotic human beings. I do believe
that gadget use has benefits, aside from keeping kids entertained.
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| Photo by Josh Sorenson from Pexels |
I do want my children to be comfortable when it comes to new technology. I
don’t want them to feel left out or ignorant when it comes to modern devices.
Children’s shows have also helped my eldest learn numbers and alphabets. We
used to read to him and teach him letters and how to count. Unfortunately, we
couldn’t get him to concentrate no matter what we did.
When we allowed him to watch videos on numbers and phonics (these are also his
preferred shows, by the way), we were surprised because he was able to
remember the things that were previously challenging for him to learn.
We also choose the types of videos that they can watch and make sure that
these are all educational. I’m happy because I received a brand collaboration
with
Kidloland, which meant that I have a full year of free premium subscription with this
learning app.
Just the same, we do set limits when it comes to gadget use. We allow them
once during lunchtime and another dinner time, a maximum of one hour for each
meal. I do realize that it’s a bit longer that what other parents allow their
children to use gadgets but my two toddlers do take their time to eat, no
matter how much we encourage them to hurry up.
Why I suddenly removed gadget use from our daily routine
Mommy Khris and I decided to completely remove gadget use from the daily
activities of our children because we noticed that it has been interfering
with the sleep of our eldest son.
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| Photo by cottonbro from Pexels |
We noticed it since middle to late last year when our son would wake up at
midnight and then go back to sleep around 4:00 AM. When we decided to restrict
his gadget use for the first time, we observed that he was getting better
sleep.
By the middle of this year, we made an experiment and allowed him to use
gadgets again to see if it will still affect his sleep. Honestly, we took pity
on him because he seemed to be really missing his favorite shows. However, his
sleep disturbance has gotten back so we thought it best for him to forbid
gadget use.
How does screen time affect children’s sleep? I made a few research and found
out that bright screen can
interrupt sleep because they stimulate a child’s brain. Furthermore, because gadget
screens have bright lights (blue light), it can negatively affect the body’s
circadian rhythm and delay the release of melatonin, the sleep hormone.
I think that’s pretty straightforward so there’s no use trying to challenge
what science and medicine has revealed when it comes to gadget use in
children.
Epilogue
While I trust that the use of modern devices has beneficial effects on
children especially when it comes to learning, it’s also advisable for us
parents to be observant if it has adverse impact on our kids.
Sometimes, we may not notice or immediately associate a negative effect with
gadget use, such as sleep disturbance that’s why we have to be extremely
analytical with the circumstances surrounding those occurrences.
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Thanks for sharing this very helpful po talaga ito especially sa may mga toddlers 😍
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for this Daddy Iv. All are very helpful when it comes to parenting.
ReplyDeleteThe use of modern devices has beneficial effects on children especially when it comes to learning, it’s also advisable for us parents to be observant if it has adverse impact on our kids and I totally agree with this.