Watching fairy tales and child development: how to wean a child from constantly watching fairy tales?
The child wants to spend every free moment in front of the TV or smartphone screen and spends less and less time on active play, being outdoors, or interacting with peers? How to wean a child from watching fairy tales, when immediately after returning from the nursery or kindergarten, the toddler loudly and very clearly demands his favorite fairy tale?
How to wean a child from watching TV and encourage him to spend time differently, more creatively? In this article, we give you 3 ideas on how to introduce a more reasonable access to new technologies into your child's life in a wise and respectful way
Jak we want Teach your child to watch cartoons: we must permanently change the habits of the whole family
Studies show that already children aged 2 and 3 spend more time interacting with new technologies than playing outside, and nearly 1/4 of them watch TV much longer than the recommended 1-2 hours a day [1].
If we want to wean the child from watching cartoons, we must first of all focus on changing our – guardians – approach to watching TV. Research results clearly show that how much time a child spends watching TV depends mainly on family habits [1,2].
Is the TV on during meals, or maybe cartoons and various TV programs are an inseparable "background" for life at home? In one of the surveys conducted in Poland, as many as 44% of parents admitted that the TV was on all the time at home [2].
A good example from a parent
If we want to teach a child to watch TV all the time, at the very beginning it is necessary to look at whether we set a good example for the child ourselves, or maybe we spend every free moment in front of the TV / smartphone screen?
Expert advises
Let's promise the toddler that we will limit the time spent in front of the screen and - most importantly - let's keep these promises and arrangements. It is helpful to introduce a schedule (when there will be cartoons during the day) and a time limit for cartoons and television watched during the day. 0,5-1 h a day is a reasonable limit for the total time that a child can spend in front of the TV. Let's prepare a schedule together with the child, in the form of pictures or in writing and attach it in a visible place. A kitchen timer will be helpful in measuring "screen time", or possibly introducing a limit on the number of episodes of a given fairy tale (e.g. 3 episodes and the end of viewing for today, which we inform about before starting watching).
Jak we want Teach your child to watch cartoons: let's make changes wisely
After setting up a new challenge with your child, entitled "Daily limit of TV watching", it is good to introduce a few additional rules:
- Let's turn off the TV while we eat togetherinstead, let's focus on talking to the child and other family members.
- If we want to wean the child from watching TV, after setting the schedule of time spent in front of the screen, let's make sure that the toddler did not watch cartoons at least 1,5-2 hours before bedtime.
Blue light emitted by television, smartphones and tablets has an impact on the occurrence of sleep disorders in children and adults.
- When we see that after turning off the fairy tale, the child is agitated, let's offer him talking about what you're watching, hugging or drawing your emotions. This will help your baby calm down.
- If we want to teach a child not to watch TV, let's try not to treat it as "forbidden fruit" or "bargaining chip" (rewards or punishments for certain behaviors of the child).
Expert advises
Let's make watching cartoons one of the normal, but limited activities / pleasures during the day or week - not something that the toddler can deserve or lose. This approach can help to change the child's attitude to watching fairy tales.
Jak we want Wean your child from watching TV: let's offer him something valuable in return
Children very quickly get used to the intense stimulation provided by colorful and noisy cartoons or children's programs. Compared to them, the reality begins to seem boring to the child, which demands even more television entertainment [1].
When wondering how to wean a child from watching fairy tales, we must be aware that the "empty" created after watching TV will need help to fill the toddler. At the very beginning, let's analyze whether we spend enough valuable time with the toddler? Or maybe we treat television as an interactive "nanny", thanks to which we can take care of important errands during the day?[2]. Of course, there is nothing wrong with that, as long as such situations are rather sporadic and the toddler does not spend long hours in front of the TV, and when playing and talking with parents, even less than 1 hour a day [2].
Expert advises
If possible, try to involve your child in simple, joint household chores. Washing vegetables for dinner or putting things in the washing machine are activities in which even 1,5-2 year old children can help (under the above-mentioned parental supervision, of course). Contrary to appearances, toddlers love to help around the house, as long as their parents allow them, although it is worth lowering expectations a bit - children, especially small ones, will not do everything perfectly, but they will learn a lot and spend time with their parents instead of in front of the TV .
Jak we want Wean your child from watching TV – let us propose instead, e.g.:
- reading books together: maybe the child will be interested in books with stickers/magnets?;
- listening to audiobooks and drawing stories heard;
- family playing board games, puns or inventing your own movement/puzzle games;
- walking together, talking, going out on bicycles, to the playground;
- enrolling the child in extracurricular activities, e.g. dancing, football, but let's try not to do it at the expense of time spent together with parents.
When parents, despite numerous attempts, do not know how to wean the child from watching fairy tales and the problem deepens (and additionally parents observe in the toddler, among others: bouts of uncontrolled aggression, hyperactivity, chronic difficulties with concentration, sleep problems), it is worth seeking help from an experienced psychologist children's.
Źródła:
Inga Brzozowska, Iwona Sikorska, THE IMPACT OF TELEVISION ON THE COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN UNDER 3 YEARS OF AGE - REVIEW OF RESEARCH, Developmental Period Medicine, 2016; XX7,15;
Bożena Dusza, Television in the everyday life of a preschool child (research report), Department of Media Pedagogy and Social Communication, Institute of Pedagogy, University of Rzeszów: https://ktime.up.krakow.pl/symp2013/referaty_2013_10/dusza.pdf [access: 29.07.2023. XNUMX]
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