When Should you Introduce Your Child to technology?

mom and child reading

You might have heard things like, “do not expose your children to screen time before they are 2 years of age”, or no phone till they are eight years of age.” While these statements are meant to be for the benefit of children, it is not holistic. It doesn’t put into consideration the peculiarity of every child and home, the interest and the increasing demand of our time. While some argue that it is not alright to introduce your baby to phones, tablets, and video games early, some believe it is ok. 

I believe in balance. Weighing the benefits against the consequences, putting in place measures to ensure the mental, emotional, and physical well-being of your child is what should determine when you introduce your baby to technology.

When do you introduce Technology to your child?

You can introduce your baby, who is an infant to technology appropriate for his age. From when babies are born, they take a keen interest in what their parents do. If you spend much time with your phone, you see your baby develop an interest in your phone early and if your time is much around the television, your infant begins to enjoy television time. Install age-appropriate videos and songs suitable for a six months old on your smartphone or home theatres.

For preschoolers, there are more amazing and more advances technology they can be introduced to. Instead of just videos and songs, identifying numbers and colours, there are coding basics available to help your five-year-old learn great life skills. You bring in fun hands-on games and activities that can be used with either a family tablet or their tablet which also has a parental control feature activated. While playing with physical objects, they think like programmers, solving life hacks.

Some parents wait till the primary school or elementary school stage to introduce them to technology. By this time, the children are beginning to become independent and aware of themselves. Many at this age can play video games, phone games, so whatever device you give, make sure to have parental control activated on them to protect them from the unrestricted information available on the internet.

Benefits of Technology for your child

  1. Technology encourages learning and development in a child. A less than a two-year-old child is singing “baby shark” and “Black black black sheep,” which children in our time weren’t singing before age four. You will be amazed at how many intellectual and problem-solving skills they build from a very young age.
  2. Your little one’s language and communication skills will improve. Learning new words and spellings are part of the fun things they do on their tablets. An example is the Spelling app, “Akili’s Alphabet.”
  3. Technology can also help your baby’s visual to hand coordination.
  4. Have you seen the way children rally around each other when one of them has a tablet to play with? It helps in developing their social skills. Teaching them the skill of sharing things, ideas, and learning together as a team.
  5. Children can develop mathematical and coding skills early through some of these technology built mainly for this purpose.

In conclusion, whatever you do, do not open social media account for your children less than 13 years of age to handle by themselves.

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Preparation Tips: First Day at School

There are always mixed feelings for mother and child when it\’s your baby\’s first day at school. You are super excited to see your baby cross another major milestone and teary for having to be away from her. The moment you think you are going to have your \”me time\” you as the mother is happy but then you miss them. Many mothers cry the first day they drop their toddlers in school especially when their little is crying.

Preparing for the first day of school always comes with jitters, separation anxiety, etc. If you have not already done so, or accompany her on her first day of school you may not experience these feelings. The first day of school marks a new chapter of your baby\’s life. While many children cry on their first day at school, some are excited, especially those who have older ones and have been longing to join them at school.

Here Are Some Tips to Help Prepare Your Baby\’s First Day at School

Prepare your child emotionally and socially
  • Let your child know some weeks before time that she would be resuming school.
  • Take your child along with you to the school to meet her teacher if possible, and to explore the school environment.
  • Tell her the name of the school.
  • Show her the new things you bought for school, even though she might not understand what it means.
  • Allowing your toddler to be around children her age would help prepare her mind. Especially in the case of a child who never attended daycare or crèche, it will go a long way in helping your child settle into her school.
  • Explore more ways to improve your child’s social skills at home before she\’s set for school.
Prepare your Child Mentally
  • Introduce your child to nursery rhymes, songs, and games.
  • Buy her pencils, crayon, coloring books, and notebooks
  • Read aloud to your child.
  • Expose your child to trying and exploring new things.
Prepare the Physical Well-being of your child
  • Make sure your child eats a balanced diet and eat well, especially days leading up to his/her school resumption.
  • You should also ensure your little ones is up to date on immunizations.
  • Medical and dental checkups are essential before resuming school. The stress of resuming school can trigger ailment not combated before resumption. You don\’t want to juggle school and hospital visits.
Read Books or Show Them Educational Cartoons
  • There are several books and videos meant for toddlers or pre-nursery students flooded with cartoon images, comics because they are very pleasing to children.
  • Cartoons play a vital role in children\’s mental and physical growth.
  • With the help of cartoons, kids can learn and have a feeling about school life.
  • There are expert suggestions to use cartoons as a technique to create interest and develop the child\’s visual reading skills.
  • It encourages your baby\’s desire to learn and be part of the school.

Resuming for The First Day at School

On the resumption of your baby\’s first day at school, pack plenty of her favorite snacks and drinks and food. Make sure to resume early so that your baby could see other children come to school without crying while also learning the art of not being late. Your child can also take his stuffed animal or toy, which she likes. That at least might help came her as she settles into the unfamiliar environment and terrain.

When dropping off your little one, you likely will get emotional but Strong mama, make sure to keep a happy, smiley face. No one wants you bursting into tears around your preschooler. Give her that smile to reassure her that she is in safe hands as much as you are also trying to convince yourself that she is in safe hands.

Make your good-byes short. Don\’t hang around for too long. Allow the teacher to take it over from you early. Many preschool teachers know how to help their pupils settle in. Those that will cry will do that only for a time while others go-ahead to have fun around new things.

At the end of the first day, you and your little one will be all smiles. No need to panic or worry, the school will be fun.

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