Why merely taking devices away won’t repair your kid’s display time downside

by Natalie key |

27 July 2025

A prime parenting knowledgeable has weighed in on the rising issues over youngsters spending an excessive amount of time glued to their screens, however says banning them shouldn’t be the reply.

Kids display time downside

Cindy Smith, a professor of human growth and household science at Virginia Tech, says the trick is to work together with your children, not towards them.

She defined: “Figure out the way to use the screens in ways in which help the youngsters’s growth and keep away from the circumstances the place it’s inhibiting their growth.”

For youthful youngsters, the specialist suggests getting again to fundamentals with a nature stroll, a board recreation or studying a ebook collectively. But she admits older children are tougher to peel away from their gadgets.

She stated: “They want to be with their friends, and their connection to their friends is through their phones and through screens and playing video games with friends on the screens.”

She warned dad and mom that merely suggesting alternate options shouldn’t be sufficient – the kid has to wish to do them.

“If they don’t benefit from the exercise, they’re not going to interact in it it doesn’t matter what you do. You’ve bought to have buy-in from the youngsters and focusing it on their pursuits.

“It’s just finding what the children are interested in and building on that. So if they’re interested in art, getting them the supplies to be able to engage in the art that they’re interested in and finding out different activities like that.”

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by Natalie key for www.femalefirst.co.uk