How to Lightly Wean Your Child Off Excessive Screentime: Part I
Why an outright ban would not work and what to do instead.
Hey Parents, we are pioneers of a kind.
We are among the first parents raising children who are growing up with smartphones and mobile devices. When my eldest child was growing up, there were no scientific studies to examine the effects of screentime usage on children. These studies and warnings have only surfaced in recent years.
It's easy to mistake behavioural changes in your child as harmless and due to school-related stress. Some of these symptoms include:
Falling asleep at strange times in the day
Irritability and mood shifts
Tense anxiety ahead of and during exams
Inability to overcome small setbacks
Difficulty in studying due to greater allure of screentime
Problems with putting away screens at night
I know the temptation is strong to impose an outright ban on your children's screentime. But in reality, many parents struggle to put an outright ban in practice. It may be easier to ban screentime on primary school children. But teenagers have the physical will and ingenuity to resist outright bans.
Here are some ways to deal better with your child's screentime addiction. The initial steps may seem small and insignificant to you, especially if you have an authoritative style of parenting. Rest assured, the small, early steps are designed to segue smoothly into large, impactful steps to save your child from his or her screentime addiction.
Step #1: Teach your child to take ownership for bad decisions he or she may make
The world can be a dangerous place, which is why it's important you let your child take ownership over his responsibilities. If he sometimes makes bad decisions, you have to let him take responsibility for the outcomes, provided they do not hurt him permanently. This can be hard to do in Singapore, where nearly every test or exam is graded and used for year-end promotions.
If your child's incessant screentime is leading to poor sleep and poor grades, you may need to allow that to happen so that your clever child can understand the bad consequences of having too much screentime.
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