Kiddipedia
Screen time has certainly become part of our modern-day unescapable reality. While most parents are well aware of the detrimental effects of screen time and its’ impact on young developing minds, it is a lesser known fact, the brains of children under 2 are most at risk from mobile electronic devices. Once developing minds are exposed to these devices their brain wiring is permanently altered. A number of troubling studies connect delayed cognitive development in kids with extended exposure to electronic devices.
The critical early years
The critical early years (0 to 3) becomes the permanent foundation upon which all later brain function is built. To develop normally a young brain needs stimuli from outside sources, not electronic devices. These devices provide no positive essential stimuli and so are no benefit and will actually stunt development. Young brains do not need the ability to process multiple actions simultaneously.
Electronic devices make children’s cognition and brain lazy as the device does the thinking for them. They dull the frontal lobe, the part of the brain decoding emotion, facial expressions, communication and empathy. Babies doing a finger swipe at books and magazines are not as cute and clever as you may think. They are looking for instant gratification and it is a sinister effect of dopamine addiction. Not too dissimilar to drug and alcohol addiction. I’m sure this has sent a huge shiver down your spine.
However as with anything forbidden it becomes attractive. So instead of no screen time, allow limited screen time once a child is over two. Think an hour max, of playing with tablets and smartphones each day. Help your toddler develop coordination, hone reaction time, and even sharpen language skills.
Why do we need fine motor skills?
Fine motor skills involve small muscles which control the hand, fingers and thumb. These skills allow a child to complete important essential skills e.g. writing, self-feeding and dressing themselves.
5 ways to achieve awesome fine motor skills in the under 5’s
1. Introduce pencils and drawing early. An 18-month-old should be exposed to and encouraged to hold and draw with a chubby crayon. At 18 months they can grasp it in their hand and scribble. By 3 years old a refined pencil grasp should have been achieved. Chalkboards and painting help make fine motor skills fun. Try and draw or paint with your child every day.
2. Clapping hands by 7-8 months and tactile nursery rhyme like “Incey wincey spider”, “Round and round the garden”, “This little piggy …” etc.
3. Cutting and pasting into a scrapbook. Use plastic scissors and an old catalogue or magazine. See Shapeeze in Nurture Parenting online store https://shapeeze.com.au
4. Duplo for 18 months to under 3’s and Lego in over 3’s encourage creative and cognitive play. Also building with bricks, small 1 inch ones are best – a 3-year-old should be able to build a tower of 10 and an 18-month-old a tower of 3. Make it more fun by counting the tower of blocks and naming the colours.
5. By 2-3 years a child will be able to: Fold paper in half, draw straight lines and circles, imitate you drawing a cross, turn single pages in a book, snip the edges of paper with scissors (by 30 months), hold crayons using the thumb and fingers, use one hand more often than the other for most activities.
All these activities can be just as much fun if not more than an electronic device. Children crave attention and your time more than anything else and those developing minds crave stimulation. My nieces are now 5 and 6 years old and neither have access to a tablet or iPhone. They love to read, are craft junkies and expert at imaginative play. Exposing your child to alternatives to screen time early on will pay off long term.
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