These days, there are few things that are more a source of contention between parents and kids than screen time. If you’ve stuck around grocery stores long enough, you’ve probably even seen a non-verbal baby ‘argue’ with their parents over a phone. The bad news is that no matter how long you (wisely) wait to introduce your kids to digital, you’ll find yourself soon enough with some displeasure at what or how much of it they are doing. The good news is some of those things that displease you may turn out to be actually quite productive for your kids.
Productive Screen Time for Kids Can Come from Surprising Activities
Let’s set the context straight. The ‘displeasure’ we are talking about is a sign that we are high up on whatever the digital actualization version of Maslow’s pyramid is. Common sense boundaries and age appropriate cyber safety safeguards are in place so there is nothing dangerous or harmful the kids are getting into. But as someone once said, a mind is a terrible thing to waste. And if anything is great at helping kids and adults alike to waste mind and time, it’s the internet!
Digital Parenting Fails that Were Really Parenting Hails
Adulting is hard and so odds are there will be some times you think your child is doing something that wastes their time but you just don’t have the energy to put that universe right. Instead, you chalk it up as a parenting fail and just deal with the guilt. Well we are here to share with you some stories from parents who found that their digital parenting fails were actually parenting hails in disguise.
From Doll Unboxing to Budding Architect –
Youtubekids has a multitude of people playing with dolls, doll accessories, and doll houses. A mom shared how her 8-year-old was so enthralled by a particular channel, MyFroggy stuff, that does amazingly lifelike dolls, dollhouses, and other tiny accessories. The mom was exasperated with how much time her daughter ‘wasted’ watching this channel. Here is the plot twist, mom started to see the incredible creations her own daughter was building out of everyday items. She created majestic doll houses out of Amazon boxes with elaborate interior furniture made from tissue boxes, food containers, and empty bottles. Seeing that there is nowhere else her child would have ever gotten so inspired or learned these tricks, this mom is now much more open-minded about what productive screen time can include.
Screen Time as A Path to Bonding –
This story is from a mom who traveled overseas with her 11 year old son to see family. Imagine her disdain when all her son wanted to do was play computer games. His co-conspirator was his 12 year old cousin who also just wanted to sit and play computer games instead of showing her son around the country of her birth. The mom was so annoyed with both boys and could barely stand the sight of them sitting right across from each other but staring at a screen. Here’s the twist, that mom didn’t realize that the screen time was a bonding tool. The cousins were both shy and through the game, they opened up and talked to each other (when mom wasn’t there because she swore she never saw them talk) and her son actually learnt some things about her home country. So sometimes, screen time can be productive in ways unexpected but desired.
Miniature Chef to Better Eater-
A mom of a seriously picky 5 year old told this story that started out with her hilariously angry at a YouTube channel. In exploring cooking shows for kids, she stumbled upon Miniature cooking and Tiny cakes. These are channels where talented chefs make elaborate meals or cakes using teeny tiny cookware and proportions. Makes you scratch your head right? Well the little girl couldn’t get enough of these miniature cooking shows and any chance she could, that is what she wanted to watch. Mom was so annoyed at the irony of a picky eater enjoying cooking shows but quickly began to change her tune. Turns out tiny anything is cute and her daughter began to want to try foods she saw on the channel. Mom said, that if she could find a channel in miniature bed making she would play it all day!
So the moral of the story is, cut yourself some slack. Yes the kids probably do waste their time sometimes and they need your direction. But sometimes, even when you throw in the towel, that ‘useless’ thing they are doing may be teaching them things you can’t even dream of and turn out to be not half bad!
