How To Handle Screen Time During Quarantine!

Dr. Mariam Dum is a clinical psychologist, focused on teens and adults, with a special interest on the positive and negative effects of technology in our lives and the lives of our children. She is sharing some expert tips on how to handle screen time during quarantine!

1. Safe screen time! Make sure your child has a child account registered in apple or google and set up parental control settings to reduce exposure to explicit content

2. Yes! Don’t be too strict with screen time… limit it to one hour, then change tasks, and later they can use tech again

3. Before giving your child technology time, explain how much time they are going to use it. Warn them 5 minutes before you take it away, and the cry will decrease for sure

4. Yes! We need to be flexible and realistic when it comes to quarantine. We are all hyper connecting with tech, but never substitute reading a book before going to sleep!

5. Here are some recommended apps for 2 – 5 yr olds. And enjoy some free time for yourself! 🙂

Educational Apps for Toddlers:

• Baby’s Musical Hands: Simple and engaging music app that encourages touch.
• Music Sparkles: Kids play an instrument like the real thing.
• Peekaboo Barn: This app teaches barnyard animal names.
• Endless Alphabet: Practice letters and vocabulary with illustrations and puzzles.

Educational Apps for Preschoolers:

• AlphaTots: an excellent tool for helping children learn the alphabet.
• Busy Shapes and Colors: it’s a virtual way to learn shapes and colors.
• Fish School: Learn basic ABCs and 123s with colorful fun fish pals.
• MarcoPolo Ocean: Build, explore, and play in colorful ocean app.

Educational Apps for Elementary Schoolers:

• DIY.org: Encourage kids to try things out on their own.
• Faces iMake: Kids make fancy facial art using everyday objects.
• Loopimal: Create sound sequences with music blocks, cute creatures.

If you have any questions for Dr.Dum, feel free to reach out & stay connected with her for more awesome tips!