Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

Monday 23 october 2017 BUSINESS
A24

Kids, screens and parental guilt: Time to loosen up?

By BARBARA ORTUTAY mobile devices and other For that reason, it’s “difficult done. EVERTHING IN MODERA-
AP Technology Writer new technologies, just as to draw strong conclusions After all, what’s the point TION
NEW YORK (AP) — Parents their parents are. The sur- about the effects of televi- of putting on an episode of Bjorem recommends us-
of small children have long vey found that kids spend sion from this research,” Os- “Daniel Tiger” so you can ing “visual schedules” that
been hearing about the an average of 48 minutes ter wrote in 2015. do laundry if the nation’s toddlers can understand to
perils of “screen time.” And a day on mobile devices, In fact, the Common pediatricians insist you sit set limits. Instead of words,
with more screens, and up from 15 minutes in 2013. Sense survey found that with your kid while she’s these schedules have im-
new technologies such as Kids are also getting ex- kids whose parents have watching it? ages — of dinner, bed
Amazon’s Echo speaker, posed to voice-activated higher incomes and edu- “My kids are not any more time, reading or TV time, for
the message is getting assistants, virtual reality and cation spend “substantially or less crazy than your aver- example.
louder. Another idea for toddlers?
And while plenty of parents “Sensory bins,” or plastic
are feeling guilty about it, tubs filled with beads, dry
some experts say it might pasta and other stuff kids
be time to relax a little. can play around with and,
Go ahead and hand your ideally, be just as absorbed
kid a gadget now and then as in mobile app or an epi-
to cook dinner or get some sode of “Elmo.”
work done. Of course, some kids will
Not all kids can entertain play with these carefully
themselves quietly, espe- crafted, Pinterest-worthy
cially when they are young. bins only for a few min-
Try that, and see how long utes. Then they might start
it takes your toddler to start throwing beans and pasta
fishing a banana peel out all over your living room.
of the overflowing trash So you clean up, put away
can. the bins and turn on the TV.
“I know I should limit my In an interview, Oster said
kid’s screen time a lot, but that while screen time “is
there is reality,” said Doro- probably not as good for
thy Jean Chang, who works your kid as high-quality en-
for a tech company in New gagement” with parents,
York and has a 2-year-old such engagement is prob-
son. When she needs to ably not something we can
work or finds her son awake give our kids all the time
too early, “it’s the best, eas- anyway.
iest way to keep him occu- “Sometimes you just need
pied and quiet.” In this Friday, Oct. 21, 2011, file photo, a child plays with an iPad in his bedroom. them to watch a little bit of
Screen time, she says, “def- Associated Press TV because you have to do
initely happens more often something, or you need (it)
than I like to admit.” internet-connected toys, less time” with screens than age toddlers because we to be a better parent,” Os-
She’s not alone. for which few guidelines other children. watch a little TV,” said Jen- ter said.q
Common Sense Media, a exist because they are so The gap was larger in 2017 ny Hopf, a mother of two
nonprofit group focused new. than in previous years. who co-founded Momidar-
on kids’ use of media and For more than a quar- ity, an online video service
technology, said in a report MIXED MESSAGE ter century, the Ameri- for moms to connect with
Thursday that kids aged 8 Some parents and experts can Academy of Pediat- each other. “When used
and under average about worry that screens are tak- rics held that kids under 2 at the right time, it’s a life-
2 hours and 19 minutes with ing time away from exer- should not be exposed to saver.”
screens every day at home. cise and learning. screens at all, and older Jen Bjorem, a pediat-
That’s about the same as in But studies are inconclu- kids should have strict lim- ric speech pathologist in
2011, though it’s up from an sive. The economist Em- its. The rules have relaxed, Leawood, Kansas, said that
hour and a half in 2013 — ily Oster said studies have such that video calls with while it’s “quite unrealistic”
the last time the survey was found that kids who watch grandma are OK, though for many families to totally
conducted — when smart- a lot of TV tend to be “entertainment” television do away with screen time,
phones were not yet ubiq- poorer, belong to minority still isn’t. balance is key.
uitous but TV watching was groups and have parents Even so, guidelines still feel “Screen time can be a re-
on the decline. with less education — all out of touch for many par- lief for many parents during
While the overall numbers factors that contribute to ents who use screens of times of high stress or just
have held steady in recent higher levels of obesity and various sizes to preserve needing a break,” she said.
years, kids are shifting to lower test scores. their sanity and get things