Paying attention to your children’s screen consumption helps build good habits.
Spending more time on screens means above all being more and more sedentary from an early age. Replacing these periods of sitting with sufficient physical activity improves sleep but also the development of children.
Less screen to move more
With approximately 30% of young children overweight or obese, the WHO (World Health Organization) encourages the establishment of good habits from childhood. The aim is to reduce as much as possible the time spent in front of a screen, but also on a seat, a stroller or strapped to the back, to encourage as much as possible the need for physical activity, the duration of which increases with age.
For this we avoid leaving your child sitting for more than an hour, and we try to set up 3 hours of activity per day for children between 1 and 4 years old with at least one hour more intensive from 3 years old. Concretely, it can be an introduction to a sporting activity, but also quite simply games with peers or parents.
No screens before 2 years
If there is not yet scientific data showing whether the exposure of young children to screens can disrupt their long-term development, the WHO recommends an attitude of caution by avoiding screens as much as possible before the age of 2. years. After this age, the time of use should be a maximum of one hour, avoiding the evening before bedtime and favoring fun, interactive activities, or in the form of cartoons which can improve vocabulary.
All these recommendations aim to improve not only the physical but also the mental health of the little ones and above all to allow better quality sleep at a time when it particularly consolidates learning, development and plays an essential role in growth.
Source: World Health Organization. (2020). Guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behavior and sleep in children under 5 years of age. World Health Organization. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/331751
Find out more: “Parents in a world of screens: How to connect to the world of your children from 0 to 18 years old” by Catalina Briceno and Marie-Claude Ducas, Les éditions de l’homme.
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