Durable Human (2 book series)

New Tools Help Parents of Young Children Manage and Question Screen Use

3 preschool age kids have lumch. photo by Nappy

The Screen Aware Early Childhood Kit is a game changer for caregivers of young children who’ve lacked the words and wherewithal to talk with daycares, schools, babysitters, and relatives about the role of screens.

It’s so satisfying to have the right tool for the right job. A flathead won’t do when you need a phillips screwdriver. Plyers are different from a wrench.

But since the arrival of digital devices, parents have had precious few tools to work with. They quickly learned, for instance, there’s no lunchbox to contain social media.

Now comes a fact-filled fleet of info products to help caregivers manage screen use by and around children from birth until at least age 8. The toolkit arrives just as alarming new evidence floods in about how screen use can harm babies, toddlers, and young children.

The kit’s 10 research-backed fact-and-action sheets not only give parents a hand, but teachers, schools, and daycare providers, too.   

5 Fact and Action Sheets from the Screen Aware Early Childhood Kit

Meeting Children’s Real Needs

Fact Sheet 1 answers to basic question “What do young children need?”

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Bad News Arrives about Babies, Toddlers and Screens

Infant looks off into the distance from the arms of his mother who is on her mobile phone. Photo by Sarah Chai on Pexels

A cascade of new scientific evidence from all over the world shows how screen use can badly hurt the development of babies and toddlers. The news comes as more parents rely on tablets, phones, and TVs to calm, distract, or entertain their little children.

Studies published in just the past year paint a dire picture.

The World Health Organization recommends that children under age 2 have no “sedentary screen time.” Instead, babies and toddlers should engage with loving caregivers, move and explore their surroundings using all their senses, and get plenty of sleep.

Screens Disrupt it All

In a US study of mothers during the pandemic, those who allowed their 6-month-olds to use screens let them watch an average of 3 hours a day. “Screen use was relatively common during meals, when going to sleep, while waiting, and to help calm the infant,” the authors write.

That, they conclude, is “an impediment to the relationship between a parent and a child, disrupting maternal responsiveness and interfering with parent-child interactions.” 

Language Delays

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Warning Labels on Social Media Suggested as Way to Protect Children

Depiction of Social Media Warning that could be used to protect children online, a concept discussed in the US Senate Judiciary Committee.

Putting warning labels on social media is among strategies to better protect child users being discussed by a U.S. Senate committee. 

At the hearing “Protecting Our Children Online,” witnesses called by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary described a digital environment replete with social media harms. They also discussed ways for Congress to act.

Parent Nightmares Continue

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Some babies are speaking less than babies did before COVID. Here’s how to get them talking.

Mom and Baby Point out toward waters of a river in South Carolina, USA

Everybody loves seeing babies wave bye-bye and say their first words. But those skills are coming more slowly to many babies born during the pandemic, according to new research in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

Social isolation, household stress, and child or parent screen overuse are some reasons why experts believe babies may have had fewer face-to-face interactions at the height of COVID. As a result, the babies heard fewer words spoken by parents and other loved ones. They thus had “significantly less vocalizations” compared with babies born before the pandemic, says Brown University’s Advanced Baby Imaging Lab.

“I’m seeing children with global delays; with deficits in really early pre-language skills like pointing, giving and reaching,” observes Rhode Island speech-language pathologist Alyssa Loberti.

Top U.K. Schools Inspector Amanda Spielman sees the implications of babies speaking and being spoken to less. “I’m particularly worried about younger children’s development, which, if left unaddressed, could potentially cause problems for primary schools down the line.”

Kids Bounce Back

Luckily, little kids are resilient and thrive with loving attention.

Babies and toddlers who can look at loved ones’ faces, practice “talking”, and hear plenty of spoken words are typically quick to learn language. They also get a boost in brain development, executive functioning, and social-emotional skills.

Proof comes from LENA Grow, a professional development program for early childhood teachers. The program uses “talk pedometer” technology to detect how much preschool teachers converse with their students. Teachers are then made aware of times in the day there is little talking and which students experience less conversation. 

When teachers step up their chatter, the results are impressive.

After a LENA Grow intervention at Sprout Five early learning program in Columbus, Ohio, teacher words spoken increased by 27% and conversational turns between teachers and students soared by 80%.  

Children in LENA Grow classrooms “significantly increased their language and literacy skills compared to those in non-Grow classrooms,” according to a Sprout Five project summary. Students became more engaged with classroom activities and teachers felt less stressed and more satisfied with their jobs.

Avoiding Speech Delay

Back-and-forth face-to-face talk is also crucial for young children at home.

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