Can Coding Help Me Get My Kids Off from Screen Addiction?
Children these days are using their cell phones, tablets, and PCs more than ever. These gadgets allow them to play, watch, and speak with their friends. But your child can use their gadget to find new things that are both fun and helpful accessible learning applications on the web. Among all these things they can do with their gadgets, the last part would be the most favourable thing you would want your child to be doing, right?
But think about this, with all the time that they spend looking down on their gadgets, do you know how much time are they spending on something that’s productive, or learning? They can go through minutes or extended periods engaged in a game. You probably don’t see it, but your child may have a screen addiction or developing an addiction to it.
But consider this: what if your child loves playing intellectual and interactive games? Won’t that be a better way to spend their screen time on? Roblox, Minecraft, and Scratch are some of the intellectually stimulating kids coding applications that your child may love. They could probably use a lot of screen time in playing it too, but that is why you need to be able to have control over how much screen time they have.
Taking control over your child’s gadget use can be quite difficult, but it is your obligation as a parent to help them. Are you ready to help your child get off from screen addiction? More importantly, how are you going to balance their need for entertainment and intellectual development while limiting their screen time at the same time?
Encourage them to code. This is one of the best ways to teach kids important computer literacy skills that will be valuable for their future. There are many child-friendly applications available online that can help your child focus their time on more intellectually stimulating games. There’s Roblox, Minecraft and Scratch to name a few.
Here are some reasons why we need to introduce or encourage children to code:
- It helps them to learn how to solve problems.
- It helps develop resilience
- It teaches them how to think
- It helps children expand their creativity
- Computer programming IS the future
- It helps them have fun learning with math
Knowing your child’s interest.
Parents always have their child’s best interest at heart and sometimes it takes more than just a simple reprimand to get them to do things your way. Before you get them to do something, it is important to know what their preferences and interests are so you can give them apps, programs or exercises suited to them. Pushing them to do something that they have little or no interest in at all could make them develop an aversion to it.
Knowing what they love to do and what interests them will allow you to give them appropriate apps, programs or exercises. When you know what intrigues them the most, you would be able to redirect their attention away from harmful activities that eat up most of their screen time. You, as parents, will also have that opportunity to help them develop their other social and personal skills.
But that’s only the easy part. The more challenging part is how to control their screen time. At our current global situation during a pandemic, we oftentimes have restrictions on mobility. When stuck at home and lesser outdoor activities, chances are, screen time is at an all-time high, even for adults. But there are many ways you can apply to lessen your child’s screen time and avoid screen addiction.
Here are some of the proven techniques to help lessen their screen time:
- Talk about your child’s digital footprint and safety.
- Setting up parental control.
- Let them set their own screen time
- Set up a tech-free zone in your house.
- Make tradeoffs for screen time.
Aside from these, you can also enrol them in after school care and extra-curricular activities like children coding school, programming classes for kids and robotics classes for kids. These activities will additionally help them away from unhealthy internet games and shift their gadget use into a worthwhile learning experience. You can read more a lot about how to control your kid's screen time here.
Here are some coding activities that you can get your child to take an interest in:
- Coding exercises
- Treasure Hunt
- Solve a maze
- Story sequence
- Puzzles
- Building blocks
- Games with Math
Using these simple games, your child learns how to use abstract thinking to actual application. It will help them use coding languages easily and apply them to a computer.
You can learn more about these coding exercises here.
So, can coding help get my kids off from screen addiction? Absolutely!
Prevent Screen Addiction
Too much screen time can affect your child’s overall development - physical, emotional and mental health. And often, it results in poor grades. As parents, you need to address these issues and put on preventive measures right away. You can use this article as a guide follow the suggested steps and start shifting their attention to coding. There are also other strategies that you can find online to help them focus more on learning rather than playing.
Do you want your child to learn during their screen time?
Sign up your child’s name to Skill Samurai, a kids coding and robotics class for kids ages seven to 18. It will help your child learn coding and other programming skills while using their screen time wisely. It will let your child involve themselves in learning rather than just playing.
Skill Samurai also offers fun, compelling, and interactive activities that your kid will surely love.
If you wish to begin today, get started here.
Related Posts:
How to Manage Screen Time for Kids - A Parents Guide
How to Encourage Your Kids to Code to Avoid Screen Addiction