Kid's Don't Always Need an App; They Need a Parent

Kids Don’t Always Need an App; They Need a Parent

In a world where iPads, smart phones, and gaming consoles are the norm, and work/life balance for parents gets blurred, it seems an easy fix to put a gadget in your child’s hands as a stand-in for you.   

Nielsen reports that 55%of tablet owners with kids say they use the gadgets to entertain the kids while traveling, and 41% use tablets to pacify their kids when they’re in public settings like restaurants.

While kids use mobile devices to view educational content, they’re also using them to play games, watch videos or TV programs. According to Common Sense Media, an organization dedicated to improving the media and technology landscape for all kids, families, and schools, kids today spend over 50 hours of screen time every week. And 38% of all toddlers under the age of 2 have used an electronic device. That’s a lot of screen time!

Over time the lack of face-to-face interaction with parents, family, teachers, and peers can impede a child’s capacity to think for him or herself and formulate genuine social relationships and experiences.  So create specific face-to-face time when phones and tables are put away for conversations and sharing time together.

By spending quality one-on-one time with your kids, they gain many more benefits that an app can’t give them, like feeling loved and appreciated, learning how to develop relationships, voicing their thoughts and feelings, fostering communication, providing positive reinforcement, and learning social skills, all of which can help develop your child as a happy, well-adjusted, and contributing member of society.

So this year instead of putting tablets, smart phones, and plug and play devices under the tree, how about giving your children an even better gift…time spent with you!  

Did you know… That music and movement are influential in childhood development - mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, verbally, vocally, and socially?  Children who are exposed to music and dance at an early age develop critical thinking skills, excel in nonverbal reasoning and communication and work cooperatively and collaboratively with others.  According to the National Dance Education Organization research shows that students who study dance are more:

• Self-motivated, disciplined and focused in their everyday lives.

• Expressive in their communication of emotions, thoughts and feelings.

• Creative and imaginative.

• Able to critically analyze their own work and the work of others.

To help kids reach their full potential, Movement Works offers Musikgarten classes every Saturday; an early childhood music education program that helps infants, toddlers, and children develop a deep love of music and the ability to express it.