What is it with kids these days? Somebody help me, I think my toddler has an electronics obsession! Literally.
No TV before 2
I tried hard to keep Bubsi away from electronic devices for a long time now. I really did. Having read all the official guidelines was one thing. But I also realized myself how addicting our technological devices have become and I wanted Bubsi to have an active childhood. Ideals are wonderful but well, to my shame I utterly failed at the “no TV before 2” challenge. Especially if you don’t count just TV (which was rather easy to avoid as we do not own one) but total screen time.
Did you ever stop and notice just how many screens we have around these days? Cell phones, laptops, tablets, TVs, outside commercials, some watches, infoscreens… They seem ubiquitous and really hard to avoid. Harder if your husband is a tech freak of course and collects any screen device we can afford. Since moving to Bremen, Papa has worked from home too – programming on a screen. So as much as I tried to shield Bubsi away from technology, she sees we use it all the time. And if we use it all the time, it must be exciting of course.
The living room media corner
Developing an obsession
Once I realized keeping Bubsi away from our electronic devices was a losing battle, I tried to embrace it. Let her see a short Thomas the train video if she likes, why not? Just one a day. That was when Bubsi was about a year old. As she has grown, we have allowed her to watch a little more, or to take pictures on our phones which she loved for a while. Making sure she never used anything for long and not too many devices in one day. Calming our conscience, I guess.
The moderation approach worked for some time. Bubsi was content and excited whenever she got to see something or use one of our devices. Now, however, two things have changed. First, her languange and reasoning skills have improved dramatically. Second,she has found her own will. She loves technology as much has her dad, and negotiates for some sort of screen time any chance she gets. I am so tired from the tantrums and fights we share whenever I say no. Our average day? Something like this:
Daily electronics obsession
Alarm clock rings, and Bubsi turns to me asking for a video. “Just one, mama!” We haven’t even left bed yet and I say no. Crying ensues. She is on the potty. “Papa, bees video now. NOW!” At least she really turns things off after a bee video (not so much for other shows). A few minutes later, she will ask for my cell phone. And no day passes without at least one request for my laptop or the tablet.
We do not cave to her demands that often, I think, but still it feels like she spends too much time on electronics. Taking media devices away seems a bad option too, though- she will need to use them later and who knows what skills kids will need soon. In Finland, they use computers is grade 1 these days. Still, how to prevent addiction?
Bubsi watching just “one more video”