As a young first time mother, I have to admit that I have made some questionable parenting decisions. Thanks to the immensely helpful online community of mother on WhatsApp and Facebook, I learn a lot of things and tips about parenting every day. And as I go on learning, and trying to be a better mom, I also realise that I have to make certain amends. Weaning my child off the TV is one of them. My daughter is 2 years old and used to watch TV more than I liked. Being a working mom, TV was an easy and convenient babysitter for me. However, now that I have realised why excessive screen time is bad for children, I have taken a few steps to cut down her screen time, and I'll share the tricks that worked for me.
Be reasonable: My daughter was watching about 3 hours of TV (cumulative) throughout the day. So going cold turkey would have definitely ended badly. So I slowly started cutting it down, a show at a time.
Reasoning: Speaking to children who are articulate generally drives home the point. I told my daughter why it is harmful to watch too much TV and told her when and how much she could watch it. Now the maximum she can watch in a day is 2 episodes of any show. And as soon as I tell her that the second episode is over, she switches off the TV herself.
Books: A friend gifted her a book called 'Pepper Watches Too Much TV', which has had a good impact on her. We talk a lot about how too much TV is bad.
Playdates: When friends are over, no child would rather spend time with a screen! I invite a few children over almost every day so that she can play instead of watching TV.
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