Parents ‘must cut their own screen time’

... then children will follow suit!

PARENTS’ best hope of getting children to slash their screen time is to lead by example, researchers have found.

Youngsters are more likely to sleep badly, develop depression and have slower language development if they spend hours glued to their tablet computers or smartphones.

Convincing a child to put down their gadget can be rather tricky, however – but evidence suggests parents can successfully cut their children’s screen time by restricting their own. A study of 3,500 families found that if mothers had more than two hours of screen time a day, their toddlers were three times more likely than other children of the same age to spend too much time using gadgets.

The researchers at the University of Calgary in Canada advised that parents come up with ‘family media plans’ that lay out ‘when, where, and how often screens are used’. Parents should also reinforce the need for ‘ sleep, physical activity, and device- free interactions’, they said.

The team tracked 1,595 children aged two and 1,994 children aged three. They found the vast majority – 80 per cent of the two-year olds and 95 per cent of the threeyear olds – exceeded the one hour maximum daily screen time recommended by the World Health Organisation.

When the team asked the children’s mothers about their own viewing habits, they found a clear link.

Those who admitted they spent 14 hours or more a week in front of a screen were 2.75 times as likely to have a child of two who breached the guideline, and 3.02 times as likely to have a three year old who did.

The study also assessed other factors, such as childcare arrangements, family income, sleeping patterns and gender of the child. For the two-year olds, those who were looked after at home were 69 per cent more likely to have too much screen time. For those aged three, no factors made any difference – aside from how much time their mothers spent on screens.

Fathers’ viewing habits were not assessed but the researchers said the whole family’s screen use has an impact on a young child.

‘ In high screen- viewing families, it may be difficult for parents to implement screen time guidelines without a supportive approach,’ they wrote in the JAMA Pediatrics medical journal.

A second study in the same publication found screen use among toddlers sets habits that last years.

Scientists at the University at Albany and New York University found those who increased their screen time between the ages of one and three still did so at eight.

Dr Edwina Young, senior author, said: ‘This finding suggests that interventions to reduce screen time could have a better chance of success if introduced early.’