Does Letting Your Child Use Technology Make You A Lazy Parent?
When and how to introduce technology to your children is one of the biggest questions that parents have these days. There is a lot of judgment around the subject and if people let their young children use a tablet or smartphone, others will often say that it’s lazy parenting. But is that always the case?
Although it’s important to manage screen time and not be too reliant on technology, letting your child use a tablet or smartphone doesn’t automatically make you a lazy parent. In fact, there are some positive ways that you can use these devices to improve their learning and spend more quality time together as a family. Here are some things to keep in mind when letting your child use a tablet or smartphone.
Educational Apps
One of the main uses for a tablet or smartphone is playing games, watching videos, or browsing social media. But you can also use it to help educate your child. There are hundreds of educational apps and websites that can make learning fun and interactive for them. These great educational tools take difficult subjects and turn them into fun games to help your child grasp the basic concepts.
Reading Apps
Many children these days don’t like to read and it can sometimes be difficult to get them interested in books. But there are apps and websites like Age of Learning that makes reading a lot of fun and help with their literacy skills, too. A great book app will have your child reading more books than ever before and you have access to a huge library, so they’ll never run out of exciting books to read.
Using Technology As A Family
Another good thing about using technology with your child is that you can use it as a family to create memories that will last forever. Consider taking videos or pictures of the two of you and then creating your own video stories to share. You can even create great content together on social media platforms like TikTok. People always see technology as an anti-social activity but it doesn’t have to be that way.
Limiting Screen Time
It’s important to manage the amount of time that your child spends in front of a screen and not let them get too carried away with it. While we don’t want kids to spend all day on their tablets, there is no harm in letting them use them for an hour or so. In fact, this might help encourage positive learning habits that will carry on into their school years.
Parental Controls
It’s essential that you have parental controls on all of your child’s devices. This way, you can keep track of how much time they’re spending online and the types of content that they’re watching. There are also great monitoring apps like OurPact Parental Control for Android that will let you block specific apps at certain times. Although there are benefits to using technology with your child, it’s vital that you keep them safe.
Smartphones and tablets are a part of life and letting your child use them isn’t lazy, as long as you use them in the right way and take steps to limit their usage and keep them safe.
