Not 2 hours, not 30 minutes but Zero Screen time!

In today’s world for parents with young kids screen time is not an option but has become a norm. It is like an easy way to distract whiny or sobbing kids for sometime. In most of the houses T.V acts like a babysitter when caretakers are trying to catch up with daily chores. In fact daycare too use T.V  to bring situation under control. And why not they say as American association of pediatrics allow 2 hours of T.V for children above 2 years old.

Initially yes I did feel that screen time including television, tablets and phone is a good way to not lose control after becoming a mom. Go to a restaurant, put some video and there you go your problem is solved. Go to a friend's home and put some rhymes on T.V, for you to not miss out all the fun in a get together. Sure, it makes life more pleasing than to cut off all your outings or deprive from social life.

But who says that screen time is the solution to make things better. After cutting off screen time cold turkey there were some remarkable changes in our lives. First let us analyze what exactly happens after a few hours of screen time. Both my children are under 5 and I am 100% sure that they are meant to be moving, playing & exploring and screen time does not allow that. I am not against any particular cartoon or anything like that. Rhymes, age appropriate games or whatever it just makes them sit in one place for sometime, which is so against their mind & body. This makes them hyper, more whiny and prohibits them from listening and empathizing.

For a parent it is so difficult to even think about cutting screen time cold turkey. I had that fear too. I had thoughts like, so does this mean I can’t have that 30 minutes in the evening to fix dinner? does this mean there is no cushion for me when I am sick. All these thoughts were proven wrong within just few days. Children are tired too just like adults and that creates chaos for sometime. But after the invention of technology we as adults have lost patience to listen to why they are crying or making bad choices and instead just turn on T.V. Trust me when they are expressing anger or other negative emotions try to understand their feelings or if it's just boredom try going out for sometime, or may be even play something creative. The negative emotions will not last for more than 30 minutes. They are back to their joyful mood again.

Some parents are very much confident that screen time is not causing them any pain. If you are 100% sure then go ahead with a little bit of screen time, perhaps every child is different. But If you notice that your child is not being a good listener or not sleeping well or being hyper all the time then it's time for you to think about that devil called screen time.

What is every parent’s expectation after having a child? To raise them well, to have beautiful moments with them and also pursue their dreams and goals side by side. After going screen free, kids were quick enough to learn how to keep themselves engaged with things they have. They appreciate outdoors too like always. And most importantly they are not hyper as before in a restaurant or any other social gatherings.

My dream is to raise children to be self sufficient and infuse qualities like compassion & empathy. One can become a successful engineer or a CEO or a swimmer or a soccer player. But with absence of compassion & empathy he / she will just fail to be happy or rather fail in life. When I am sick, I want my child to know that yes his mommy is sick today and needs some rest. Tell her frankly that mommy can sit & read but cannot run with her in the park. Promise her that you will take her out again when you are feeling better in a couple of days. I think in that way your child will empathize with you rather than like, alright my mom is sick and it is so boring to build blocks again so I am just going to play games in my tab. 

Take my challenge and after few weeks of zero screen time with your kids, you will not regret your decision. They talk to you more, they love listening to stories about what they did when they were a baby and life is better on the whole for everybody. Hope my experience helps you in some way, Happy parenting !