In this millennial century, you can't avoid from exposing your child from technologies. It's a matter of how much of exposure. Well, in my case, VERY MINIMAL.
I don't expose Isa to gadget, not until he was 1 years plus. Reason being, I'm a kiasu mum. I guess I read too much of medical articles and watched YouTube on the effect of device towards the development of your child. But I am no extremes. Don't worry. I'm still flexible like that. Isa has not seen handphones until he is big enough to understand certain things.
How did it started?
I introduced YouTube to him when he was around 1 year 3 months until recently when I noticed that he was way too attached to the phone to the point he started to throw tantrums. But I limit the usage of handphone only during free time. Meaning when Juan and I are sitting down on the couch. Not during meal time or bed time.
It started with Barney video and gradually we moved to other children's video. It was okay at first until I noticed that he wants to watch it before bed time too. At first I thought because it was quite new for him but gradually it became every night at one point. Then it went to meal time. He wants me to put the phone on his high chair so that he could eat and watch it at the same time. That was when I told Juan that we need to put our phones away whenever we are home. This need to stop.
I started detaching Isa from this habit by playing with him. Either with his toys, or play chasing around the house or introduce books to him. So now whenever we are at home or when my parents come around, we put all of our phones away. We only check it whenever he didn't notice or when we're in office or out or when he's asleep.
I noticed that he's more interested in reading, he's closer to Juan and me and also we noticed new things about him. Things that we might not notice if we're still engrossed with our own thing. He is now learning a few new words aldo some 'masuk angin' pronunciation. In my opinion, child below 2 years doesn't need any exposure to tech. They need hands on activities to sharpen their motor skills.
Too much of anything can be bad. You need to monitor and read your kid's change in behavior. There are too much of violence and inappropriate content on the Internet nowadays and children are at risk of mimicking these behaviors.
"Technological interactivity can never replace human interaction as current technology cannot replace the human element of interaction between parent and child."
1. Switch off the TV and put away your phones during meal times and encourage conversation among one another.
2. Remove any gadgets, especially TV and laptops from bedrooms.
3. Introduce traditional games back into your child’s playtime such as hide and seek, Scrabble, chess, congkak etc.
4. Get back to nature. Bring the family for fishing or hiking. This is something I'm still struggling to do cause I am not a nature person. Gosh...Mosquitoes.
