The COVID-19 pandemic has upended virtually every aspect of life. From the lockdowns, social distancing, business closures, job layoffs to the economic slowdown, this has metamorphosed into more than just a health crisis.
Screen-time for Your Kids
The family setup has borne the brunt of this crisis. Many parents have to juggle working from home and organizing the kids for virtual learning. Today, screen-time has become an integral aspect of family time as children learn online. Classes are now online through platforms such as Zoom and Google Classroom.
How do you ensure your kids are learning now that screen-time is an inevitable part of their lives? This post looks at some creative ideas to incorporate learning into the screen-time of your kids.
The Immense Benefits of Screen-time in Learning
Screen-time has always posed a big headache for parents, but things are even worse in the new normal precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. There’s no doubt that social media apps, video games, TV have immense benefits for the learner.
These are learning tools that expose learners to new ideas, help with socialization, boost creativity, and aid personal expression. The challenge for the parent is to find a perfect balance between screen-time for learning and leisure. Here are some simple ideas to incorporate learning into screen-time.
Get More Involved in Screen-time
For most parents, the shift to the new learning model was swift, and it was difficult to manage screen-time for kids. Children could get away with a lot of stuff, and little learning would take place on these digital platforms.
For your child to leverage the immense benefits of screen-time, get more involved. It’s important to talk to your school and understand how the online learning program works. Make sure you understand how much time your child needs to spend on the screen. This helps you monitor them and ensures they learn and don’t engage in nefarious activities online.
Make screen-time fun for your kids and discover new stuff together. When you go online with them or research and find new stuff, your child follows this lead. Screen-time becomes more than just a time to kill boredom but an opportunity to learn.
Apart from the screen itself, you should also try and pique their interest in how things actually work. You can collaborate with tablet repair services that can show your kids how to troubleshoot and fix issues. This way they will learn the basics of computer repair as well as technology.
Define Screen-Time for Your Family
Screen-time is now an integral part of learning, but it can only work if you set the rules for your family. As a parent, take control of your household and define what platforms are acceptable as screen-time.
For a start, talk to your children about the power of television, video games, music, online reading, and social media as educational tools. Set the rules on which social media sites your kids should engage to avoid negative content.
It’s more likely for learning to happen when you have assessed and approved these platforms. Such monitoring is essential to protect your child and ensure they engage with helpful content.
Leverage the Power of Gaming
Americans love video games. Research shows 75% of Americans have at least one video gamer in their household. Video games have in the past received a lot of negative publicity, but the attitude has slowly changed. There’s fresh evidence to show that video games have learning, health, and social benefits.
With kids spending so much time indoors, find something fun and interesting to keep them occupied. Online education games for kids are a game-changer in learning. As your child spends a lot of time online, guide them towards helpful content that boosts their knowledge.
Video games help children with reading, coordination, problem-solving, Visual-spatial skills, social connections, imaginative play, and creativity. You have a wide range of innovative games to choose from, and you can make it even more interesting by playing with your kids.
Set Screen-time Goals
Why is your child on social media? What will they achieve through an online chat with friends? Before your child starts online activities, make sure you have an idea what it’s all about. They should always have goals for their screen-time.
If your child wants to play a game online, ask them how that game helps them. You’ll be surprised that kids know a lot, and it opens your eyes too. For social media, talk to your kids and open their eyes to the dangers that might lurk outside there.
Help the child discover the incredible learning opportunities they can enjoy through purposeful screen-time.
Keep Monitoring the Content
It’s your duty as a parent to monitor what the child is up to online. This is the best way to guarantee your child is positively embracing screen-time for learning. Check whether the child is using the apps or playing the educational videos you have agreed on.
Final Thoughts on Screen-time
Your child spends a lot of time doing classwork and on social media apps, and it’s important to integrate more helpful content into their screen-time. From Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Netflix, TV to video games, there’s a lot of screen-time available to kids today. As a parent, adapt to this new normal quickly and guide your child positively on screen-time. Make sure screen-time in your family is purposeful and monitor the activities on those screens.