5 Ways to a Screen-Positive Experience

We’ve seen the rise of screen viewing during the pandemic and families with small children has been no exemption. While it is not recommended for children under 2 years old to watch video content, the screens has been the go-to solution for young parents to fill parental time while fulfilling home or work duties. The thing is while lots of parents claim that they don’t let their children watch video content on screens, there seems to be no match to how their children understand popular TV icons like The Wiggles or any local equivalent and happily dressing up as them. Let’s dive in to find out 5 ways to a screen-positive experience and you can also explore some Filipino talent that is representing in the kids entertainment industry.

So before you turn guilty on letting your child have a peek of Number Blocks, let’s dive in to how we can use screens to our advantage:

1 / Watch music and movement shows

Babies and toddler age are tuned in to nursery rhymes, songs, chants, and other rhythmic content. But this alone will turn the child glued to the screen and that is why television shows like Cocomelon aren’t recommended. To avoid inactivity, shows must not only have songs and music but also influence movement. That’s where The Wiggles show come in as they not only sing and dance but also teach action movements that sometimes are based on sign language.

2 / Watch interactive shows

You might be familiar with Netflix’s interactive show where it requires user input on decision prompts that impacts the flow of the user journey. In terms of children, what we actually meant was for children to interact with shows through characters that “seem to interact” with them. You’ll see these in shows like Dora the Explorer or Charlie’s Colorform City where a character asks a question and pauses to wait for a response.

3 / Watch shows with screen hosts or anchors

Most children shows that use real people engage children as they combine the first and second approach we have mentioned above. These characters also get notable with their own personalities that when they appear on the screen, the children stops to listens. You can say that they start to have an attachment to these characters same as how we adults crave to see our idols in person or on screen. Catie’s Classroom is a good example of this show.

4 / Watch educational shows

As your children grows, they grasp concepts such as numeracy and literacy concepts from screen to real life. Most educational shows teach basic numeracy concepts such as colors and shapes even before they start to learn counting. They also hear phonetic versions of the alphabet song even before they start to read and write. A great resource for this is Badanamu on Netflix, not only are they educational but they have a story to tell that are sometimes funny for a child, too (I have video proof of our toddler laughing non-stop to some ducks running in the rain seen from this show.)

5 / Watch shows with your children

For any educational tool may it be an app, a toy, or a crayon, the most important element of learning to include is you. While you can leave your child to conduct free play on his own, the child learns more in social settings as they model behavior from you. As a trusted adult, the child looks up to you for guidance when there are questions from their mind or if further learning is required to continue the learning.

We get it. We need to keep our children busy as the dishes won’t wash themselves. But you still need to be mindful of long your children watch shows on the screen. Follow your local or national guidelines on what is the recommended viewing habits for your children based on their age and stage.