Addicted 5-year-old went cold turkey

For Christchurch mum-of-two Eran James, screen exposure was the “addiction” she was forced to wean her 5-year-old son Xavier off.

Shortly after Xavier turned 2 the family were living in the Middle East and frequently travelling to China.

They began giving their 2-yearold an iPad for the long-haul flights. On average Xavier was getting

20 to 30 minutes of screen time a day but during the 11-hour flight he was exposed nearly the whole time.

James said her boy started becoming increasingly aggressive, throwing tantrums frequently and ultimately became “hard work”.

“I remember being in a restaurant when we were living in the Middle East and I went to take the iPad off him and he threw the biggest tantrum, started banging his head against the floor — it was really scary,” James told the Weekend Herald.

When Xavier turned 5, his parents made the decision to help Xavier stop his “screen addiction cold turkey”.

“We really should have done it earlier but he was using educational apps so we thought it was at least helping his learning but his aggression just got worse and taking him off screens was our only option.”

James said she had to explain to Xavier why it was important he stopped using screens and he understood.

“We have tried to focus on hobbies he loves like swimming and Lego and we have already noticed such a difference,” Xavier’s mother said.

The youngster was still exposed to screens at school but only for a short time and that was out of his parents’ control.

“After Xavier’s experience I feel children really shouldn’t be exposed to screens under the age of 7 as their brains are still developing,” James said.