Moms time out Zone!

Here are 4 Tricks I Use To Get My Child Off Screens!

Here are 4 Tricks I Use To Get My Child Off Screens!

Screen time is not an alien concept for younger kids anymore. I am a mother of a four years old daughter. From a mother who struggled to keep her kid away from over usage of electronic gadgets to one who has a sorted plan of how the day would work out without or limited screen time, I have been a part of both sides of the spectrum. There was a time when my little one would not open her mouth to have food unless she had a phone in front of her.

After due effort in making changes with our routine, I have not only managed to keep her away from gadgets but also set our routine to keep her busy with other activities in her free time. Let me just start by saying, there is nothing wrong with supervised, limited screen time however, we can’t deny the presence of gadget addiction in today’s world.

We are a nuclear family and I completely understand the problems one faces to keep our always active kids busy with creative activities. Here are a few small changes we can start with so our kids can easily enjoy the free time well:

Take baby steps towards changing the little one’s routine

If one day you wake up to decide to abruptly change the routine of your little one, it won’t work. We have to understand that these little humans are a ball of emotion, feelings and behavioral changes which they are still learning to express well. Take baby steps towards any changes; start with 10 or 15 minutes of a new habit.

When my little one was a year old and was teething, she stopped eating completely. All I wanted was to feed her well. I tried everything and then gave in to rhymes on my phone just to make sure that she eats well. She ate but we fell into this trap of screen and mealtime. It took us some time to make her understand that mealtime is family time and no screens are allowed at the table but it didn’t happen in a day.

Stick to the routine and cut down your own phone usage

Allocate an appropriate amount of screen time for your child, irrespective of the gadget. We can’t preach if we don’t follow so make sure to cut down your own phone usage. I am guilty of using my phone for more than 9 hours a day, I didn’t even realize because I was on different apps and never-ending scrolling was messing up with my behavior too.  

Set some ground rules and stick to those – expect few tantrums from yourself (phone addiction is real) and the little one too. For me downloading an app to check my phone usage gave me a reality check. When your little one will see you busy with books or something else that you love, he/she will follow in your footsteps.  

Activity boxes and pretend play activities

This is one of my go-to options when I run out of ideas on how to keep my little one busy creatively.  When I decided to cut down on our phone usage, the biggest trouble was how to keep her busy. Kids’ attention spans are really short so we have to come up with interesting activities quite often. My search took me to Firstcry Intellikit boxes. To be honest, I love these activities more than my little one as it gives us a chance to spend some quality time together without a screen. I have taken a subscription for Firstcry Intellikit boxes after I saw how helpful it is to keep my little one busy with creative activities.

When I got to know about their #nocreendaycampaign, I knew I made the right choice. The “No Screen Day” campaign is an attempt to help moms reduce their child’s screen time by asking them to pledge a #noscreenday for their child.

We thoroughly enjoyed our #noscreenday with so many activities and I am so glad she didn’t ask for a phone even once (Yay, for this mama).

To read the complete blog please click here. This blog was originally published on Firstcry.com.


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This is a sponsored post by FIrstcry Intellikit but all views are mine. I have personally used the products and reviewed it on my experience.

 

kavita

Mom of a beautiful and most adorable baby girl. I am a dreamer and a true optimist with a drop of crazy at heart. I have always been fascinated with the perpetual link of a pen and a heart. It amazes me how beautifully pen can write what heart truly believes. I am a stubborn daughter, pampered wife, doting mother and free-spirited human being. Do not forget to visit www.momtastciworld.com and www.clumsythoughts.com


Reader Comments

  1. my saviour has been pretend plays and play dates. I send him off for play dates, or ask his friends to come home to keep my son away from screen. These are beautiful tips you have mentioned.

  2. These are some really wonderful tips to help your child say goodbye to screen time and indulge in some other fun activities. Firstcry Intellikit is an amazing activity box, perfect to encourage play-based learning.

  3. Firstcry intellikit is definitely a good activity box to engage kids for a longer time period . these days my son also loving doing the activities given inside the intellikit

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