Jj is for Jottings 152. The Effects of Watching Violence.
Did you know that the effects of watching violence are different from the effects of simply reading about violence? Researchers consistently find that, the more often you watch disturbing scenes, the more anxious you become. This can result in forming long-term traumatic memories. Your brain is unable to distinguish between reality and fiction when viewing violence on screen. Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 92. Managing Children’s Screen Time.
The easiest way to manage children’s screen time is to avoid screens altogether as much as possible, by providing alternative activities. Rory, the foal, is looking over Amy’s shoulder, trying to read “Aa is for Alpacas” with Amy, Zack and Zara.
This article on managing children’s screen time follows on from the effects of screen time on children and parents’ screen time.
This has already been covered in the previous article.
Jj is for Jottings 91. Parents’ Screen Time.
This follows on from the effects of screen time on children. Before we go into the topic of how to limit our children’s screen time, we need to look to parents’ screen time.
No parents’ screen time here. This “parent” has his full attention on the “child”, complete with eye contact. Good parenting skills, David.
Studies from the University of Bristol show that the amount of time a child spends on a screen is closely associated with their parents’ own habits. They found that children were 3.4 times more likely to spend more than 2 hours a day watching television if their parents did the same. This is when compared with children whose parents watched less TV. The statistic carries over into other screen types as well. Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 90. The Effects of Screen Time on Children.
Avoiding the effects of screen time on children – Zara, Amy, Seth and Zack reading “Aa is for Alpacas” AND outside.
By now, there have been many studies done on the effects of screen time on children. My own observations on this subject are here and here. And here is an article on parental concerns about screen time. So, let’s have a look at some of the recent research. Continue reading
1. Shanti decided she would jump onto Glenn’s back to get a good view of the toenail cutting. 2. “A good position – I think I’ll sit down.” 3. Settled in to watch the full performance.
Jj is for Jottings 35. Comments Made By Experienced Teachers.
Following are some observations I have made and some comments made by experienced teachers in the last couple of years. I find that experienced teachers have an excellent understanding of what enhances learning and what undermines learning, partly because of their long experience Continue reading
Off to school next year – excellent preparation.
Jj is for Jottings 33. How More Routine, Fewer Choices Make for Smarter and Happier Children. Part 3.
Here is the third part of an article which appeared in the Pulse section of the Border Mail on February 6 last year, and it bears repeating. The first part was in Jottings 18 and the second in Jottings 26.
Behavioural optometrist Michael Smith gave these guidelines:
How to prepare your child for the ‘game of school’
• Talk with your child;
• Travel/drive/explore the world;
• Use a wide range of vocabulary;
• Play simple games with words and alphabetic sounds (make it fun);
• Read books daily — limit distractions and make the experience a special time; and
• If you are concerned about your child’s progress or development, do some research and get help as it is easier to rectify problems at an earlier age.
THE fallout is felt in the classroom.
Mrs McCormack (a teacher for 45 years, now retired) knows all too well the validity of Mr Smith’s comments after four decades of teaching.
“Nothing can replace the experience of the smell and touch of a book, of sitting cuddled up on your parent’s knee while they read to you and hearing and seeing the expression in their voice,” she says.
And while she believes advances in technology have brought a wealth of stimulation to our world, at the same time it is robbing children of vital skills needed for school and life.
“It’s like we have thrown out everything that’s old to bring in everything that’s new,” she says.
“It may not happen in my lifetime but I can see a point where the focus will return to the basics — the three Rs (Reading, ‘Riting and ‘Rithmetic).
Mr Smith is adamant the over-use of electronic media before kids start school is affecting them socially, physically and mentally.
“Plonking children in front of a television for hours a day and then another two hours on the iPad or Xbox is depriving children of movement and of words,” he says.
“So many kids are starting school with a limited ability to be creative, to see in their mind.”
These are the children who end up at Mr Smith’s door.
He has countless stories of parents who come to him almost at their wit’s end about little Johnny mucking up, falling behind and generally struggling to grasp the basics of learning.
In a heart-felt letter, one mum wrote that she once had a son who hated school so much he would cry and lock himself in the toilet.
“Every day he would lay on my bed and say I hate myself, why can’t I learn and every day my heart would break (sic) for him,” she wrote.
“He was three years behind the other children in his grade and falling further and further behind.
“Now he’s a changed boy; he loves going to school, his handwriting has improved 100 per cent and he is now reading books, loves maths and is going well at sport.”
But it was the new-found confidence evident in her son’s own words that captured it best for Mr Smith.
“Thank you for helping me. You have helped me in my school work so much,” the boy wrote in pencil.
“Now can you help me pick up a chick … ha ha.
It’s that time of year again when the alpacas have new neighbours. When these twins were a week old, their mother took them further down their paddock into line with our back paddock. The lambs were playing just next to the fence. I came across the paddock – unfortunately with no camera – to find a line of interested alpacas staring at the lambs. Geisha tried to jump on them twice (that’s how they attack unwanted animals) because “They Didn’t Belong There” and “It Was Her Territory”. Thankfully she couldn’t actually get at them through the fence.
Jj is for Jottings 31. Televisions in Children’s Bedrooms.
A few days ago one of my “therapy children” – 7 years of age – brought a soft toy into the session. When asked about it she said she’d been given it as a reward for behaving well in the shop where her parents had bought her a television for her bedroom. (Fancy having to be rewarded for behaving well when you are being bought a big-ticket item!) When asked why she should have a television in her bedroom she said because “lots of” the other children have them in their bedrooms. I don’t know what percentage of children do, but I do know it’s not uncommon. Since children having televisions in their bedrooms fills me with horror, I thought it was a good time to say my piece on the subject. Here are some reasons why TVs and children’s bedrooms should never meet:
• Programs screened when the child is in bed are likely to be inappropriate for the child’s age. Children are unable to discriminate between appropriate and inappropriate content.
• Watching TV in bed will erode sleeping time.
• How are parents going to know if the child wakes up during the night and turns on the television? If children do turn on the TV in the middle of the night, see the first two points above.
• Watching television in bed can be overstimulating and undermine the body’s readiness for sleep. You might argue that the same applies to reading in bed – and it can, but this is more of an adult problem than a child problem, and it is magnified by….
• All screens emit short-wavelength blue light. Light affects our internal body clock, which affects our circadian rhythm, which is our (more or less) 24 hour body cycle which influences many internal functions. This determines when our body is primed to stay awake and be productive and when we feel tired and want to go to sleep. When it gets dark in the evening, our pineal gland secretes the hormone melatonin, which signals to our brain and body that it’s time to get tired and go to sleep. Blue light inhibits melatonin production. As a result, our bodies don’t get the proper signal that it’s time to go to sleep, reducing both the quality and quantity of sleep. In effect, the body is tricked into thinking it’s daytime. Blue light (which we also get from the sun’s rays) are crucial during the day, but have a disastrous effect at night. There is any amount of research on this, from Harvard University, Monash University, University of Toronto to name just a few.
• Tired children do not concentrate or learn well. (Or adults either, for that matter.) Their behaviour is likely to suffer, and this will have a knock-on effect to everybody in the classroom.
Being a parent is a tough call, there’s no denying that. But one of the things we must do is to step away from our children’s whims and “what everybody else is doing” and to think about the long-term effects of our decisions on our child’s health and wellbeing.
