I was supposed to just put a post up on Facebook but Mr. T suggested I blog about it as well. Thought it was a good idea since I really haven’t published anything for quite some time.
One of the things we made sure to work hard on as parents is to not let Ava become so hooked on watching TV and using our iPhones and/or iPads. At this digital age, it’s really hard work. For one thing, it should start with us as her parents and I tell you, up to this day we are still trying. This is in no way a swipe against parents and children who liberally use smartphones and tablets. I really believe that it's a personal preference. I think it only becomes bad when the use of tablets and other similar gadgets are way too excessive that it grows into a bad dependency and starts replacing human interaction. But if managed well, like any other technology and digitalization, it's an awesome help for parents in teaching young children.
Earlier on while Ava was still a chunky little belle, I chanced upon this video from one of the mommy groups I was in. If you have time, please do watch this video because it explains a lot about the effects of screen time to toddlers, even babies.
After watching, I immediately shared the link to Mr. T and right after we've both agreed that this is something we really want to work hard on. We uninstalled Youtube, a lot of game and baby apps on out iPhones and iPads. Ava was not entitled to any of our gadgets. She knows it's not hers, and she needs to ask and borrow only if and when we allow her.
Since we bring our stuff (phones and tablets) with us, a huge struggle in this practice was how to teach our Ate to adapt and make sure that Ava will not be glued to the TV all day while we're out. I'd like to believe that we've succeeded with teaching because we see positive results. We thoroughly explained what was discussed in this video, making sure they actually understand. Instead of totally cutting off watching TV, we just asked that it won't be a whole-day-watching-spree. Late afternoons, Ava is allowed to go out of the house and play, allowing her to interact and socialize with other people. After a while, we also shifted from battery-operated toys to wooden toys and other educational toys.
We also focused on building our small library, and this, out of all the things we pursued, is turning out to be the most influential. We would always read for and with Ava. During her first year, we would buy textured, colorful and brightly rendered books. Then we started buying books about shapes, letters and then numbers. At 3 years and 4 months old, Ava is already reading a whole book.
Ok so she wasn't really reading, more like reciting what she's memorized from our readings. Lol. But it's amazing just the same because we see that she really loves books. I think asking us to read a single book again and again, like 10++ times proves it all.
While I do not discourage parents to allow their children the use of gadgets and gizmos, I'd like to encourage reading books more. You actually don't need to push yourselves nor your child to read, if you asked to read a book and your child says no, that's completely ok. Just try again after a while or the next day. Next thing you know, your child is asking you to read a book a hundred times over and over again. And then, I'm pretty sure something similar to this will happen. :)
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