The modern age is so dominated by technology and personal devices that it has become a seeming impossibility even to drag ourselves away from screens, let alone our increasingly screen-addicted children, and people are worried about it. Where screens used to be easily identified as time-wasting centres such as the television and games consoles, computers, tablets and smartphones are now central to kids’ daily communication and even their education.
How, then, can we maximise our kids’ time away from screens? Here are a few great ideas to start:
1. Get the Whole Family Out and About
It doesn’t take long to find all the many events & things to do in Australia. It’s a big country after all, and there’s always a lot going on, whether you live in a large city, or suburb or even out in the more remote parts of the country. Australians tend to love the outdoors, be it the beach or the bush, the rivers or the mountains, the local amusement parks or community events.
Being outdoors means fresh air, exercise, and eyes fixed on things that aren’t high-definition screens with flawless tiny pixels dancing across them. It shouldn’t take long for kids to be able to leave screens behind and focus on whatever they’re doing. You could go on a family nature hike where you spot all the flora and fauna along the way; you could take surfing lessons at the beach; you could visit a local arts and crafts fair to learn new hobbies and stock up on fun art supplies to continue the fun at home…the list goes on and on.
2. Lead by Example
If you want your kids to use their screens less, you have to demonstrate to them that it can be done. Experts around the world have often pointed this out, and remind us that cutting your own screen time is beneficial to yourself in many ways, as well as setting a good example to your own kids.
How can you expect your kids to do something that you refuse to do yourself? They’re bound to rebel against that. On the flip side, showing them how it’s done can work as an inspiration and encourage them to try harder themselves.
3. Make it a Competition and Use Rewards
If you are struggling to get kids “into” the idea of cutting down on screen time, turning it into a game that the whole family takes part in can be a good way to do it. Some might see it as a way of trivialising the issue, but actually it can provide some much-needed structure and balance, not to mention the promise of rewards initially to help kids realise that there’s actually more to life than screens!
What starts out as needing rewards can eventually become second nature. Incentives are just a good way to kick start the project more smoothly.
4. Provide Alternatives at Home
Besides their screens, what else do your kids have to do at home? Have you provided them with board games, arts and crafts materials, sports equipment, outdoor play equipment? Does your home have a pool, too? If you don’t have anything to offer as an alternative, then even if you reduce screen time by force, your kids will just resent you because you leave them with nothing to do.
5. Don’t Force the Issue too Hard
Some families are tempted to force everyone to go cold turkey and abandon screens entirely. This is counterproductive. As we touched on in the introduction, kids do need screens nowadays just to function in the modern world. Using the “carrot” is always best, and creating environments and situations in which kids don’t feel compelled to always be on a screen. A simple starter could be ensuring that you still have family mealtimes together where you all sit and talk about your day.