‘How to reduce screen time’ is every millennial mom’s stress point. With everyone having their own devices it gets difficult to regulate screen time. If your child is glued to the TV or the mobile phone for long hours you must work towards making few lifestyle changes. If you want them to Grow Right, try to reduce their screen time and dependency on technology – less screen time more green time.

Why Screen Time is harmful for kids?  What is the situation in India?

Addiction to screen – be it TV, mobile phones, tablets, playing games or browsing social media for long hours – all affect growth and development in kids. It can lead to a disorder that is also referred to as SSD or Screen Dependency Disorder that involves sleep problems, behavioural problems, obesity, aggression and violence, and much more. In a study of 10,000 Urban School Children in Delhi, India, by AIIMS doctors it was established that in 40% cases myopia progressed as a result of excessive screen time. Practise ‘less screen time’ rules right from elementary school age.

How to reduce Screen Time in Young Kids? Less screen time more green time #GrowRight

Parenting is not an easy task, a lot of times, parents hand a device to their kids to engage them, or keep them quiet. But that’s the onset of addiction. According to reports Indian parents are nurturing screen addiction in their kids by handing over a smart screen due to their busy schedules and over protective approach towards physical safety. You, as a parent need to make these lifestyle changes to make less screen rime a reality. The best thing I have done for my son is to hide the iPad!

#1 Establish Family Rules – No screen zones

Create family rules and no screen zones in the house. When you sit together at the dinner table, do not allow phones or iPads. Lead by example, because kids pick up what they see. Family times must not get overridden with technology.

#2 Spend Time with kids, engage them in activities

Spend time with your kids by being physically present with them. When they grow up, they don’t remember gifts, they remember the time you spent and memories you created. Engage kids in art and craft, outdoor plays, pick up a sport you both can do together. Enrolling kids for extra-curricular classes and packing up their schedule will do more harm than good. Let them develop interest by trying out different activities.

#3 Involve them in house hold chores

In India, we hardly involve kids in daily chores. It’s better to make kids self-sufficient from an early age. Involve kids in simple chores like, placing their clothes in laundry basket, arranging their toys, making their own beds. I love to involve my son in the kitchen – doing simple stuffs like getting vegetables from the refrigerator, shelling peas, beating eggs, etc. I also let him mix his PediaSure in the milk. I have kept the bottle at a place from where he can pick it up and he scoops out the powder, adds it in his milk and mixes with a spoon.

#4 Involve them in gardening or adopt a pet – teach empathy

When you teach kids how to take care of plants or a pet you are teaching them empathy. These are values that a book can’t teach you.  Let them help you watering your plants or give a shower to the pet.

#5 Monitor the screen time

Researchers ask parents to keep screen time to one hour or less for children aged 2-5 years old. Maintain a screen time schedule and once you have set a limit don’t let kids extra time over the limit. Maintain passwords and use parental control.

#6 Have story time sessions

Storytelling is an amazing medium to teach kids. Story time sessions need not be limited to bed time stories only. Make stories about their daily life that will have lessons. Want them to grow right – encourage kids to tell stories, this improves their original thoughts.

Parents, set good examples for your kids to reduce screen time. The less time you spend on screen in front of them, the less they’ll want to watch something. There’s a surge in mobile phone usage in kids these days – it’s not just harmful for their development, it involves security risk too. Remember, less screen time, more green time. What do you do to reduce the screen time for your kids.

Food and proper nutrition for their kids is every mother’s concern. It becomes very difficult for a mom when her child is a picky eater. You always have this question at the back of your mind – “is my baby getting enough nutrition?” But the key is to identify the picky eaters fast and to encourage them to actually eat.

Sitting my son down for dinner meant getting into a battle. He had developed some liking for crispy food. Anything I tried giving him which was not crispy or didn’t have a crunch to it met with a BIG NO. EVERYTIME.

Since his weight gain was fine, his doctor wasn’t that concerned but I had almost lost my sanity. I read up loads on picky eaters and how to encourage them to actually eat. Today I am in a better state of mind and it was a big challenge for me. Let me share with you what worked and how I made it work.

But first, how to identify Picky Eaters?

Some toddlers can be poor eaters – they never finish meals and generally do a lot of fussing around food. And some are picky eaters. Here’s what you should look for:

1. Accepts only a few types of foods
2. Refuses to try any new kinds of food
3. Eats snack or juices without trouble
4. Wants similar food in every meal

Just one kind of food cannot be enough for a balanced meal that a toddler needs to grow right. Fussy eating can result in improper growth, weak immune system. Most importantly it can drive the mom insane when meal time becomes a power struggle.

Consulting the Paediatrician

As any worried mom, I consulted my son’s paediatrician asking for any suggestion that would make him eat. “Don’t take this added stress. Let him discover food, let him try new things, keep doing combinations, he is doing fine.” She had suggested I start with Pediasure, but that became a struggle too. Anything white resembling milk was met with a NO, again.

Can Pediasure be mixed with water? Yes, you can.

Since he hated milk, I had asked the doctor – can Pediasure be mixed with water? She said that Pediasure can be mixed in room temperature water and given as a drink. I took this cue and started introducing this jar of milk at his snack time.

Pediasure’s scientific formula is enriched with 37 nutrients that provide 100% of the recommended dietary allowance of macro and micro nutrients. When I read the label, I also found out Pediasure contains prebiotics and probiotics that helps in boosting immunity.

While Pediasure was helping me in addressing lost-nutrition and lost-growth issues, the biggest challenge for the mom in me was still in making my fussy eater like his food and eat wholesome food. I have had my share of bad days with food getting rejected. But I have also learnt in life nothing comes easy and patience and perseverance helps.

Here’s what I did to encourage my picky eater to actually eat

#1 Make Mealtime “Family Time”

Sit together at the table. Eat as your child eats. In our house, we try to follow the same food for kids and adults to encourage him to eat what we eat. I sit down with him (without my mobile phone) and we generally talk about his school, friends etc. while we eat. This might not work from day 1 but this really helps.

#2 Set the table restaurant-style

Kids like things in order (mine does surely). He behaves well in restaurant and likes when the table is laid out nicely. I started doing that at home, laying out the table with his cutlery and napkin. This made him excited about his food.

#3 Let him eat with other kids

Kids tend to learn really well when they see other kids do something. If you have a preschool-going toddler, focus on the snack box that he might be sharing with other kids. I get his friends home and let them eat together – snack or dinners. This has helped considerably.

#4 Involve kids in the meal-making process

Ask him to help you in the kitchen by shelling out peas, beating eggs for omelette, mixing batter for vegetable muffins. I have always let him participate in cooking so that his interest in food grows. When you serve the food which they have participated in they tend to eat it better.

#5 Wait for your kid to get hungry

Allow kids to get hungry in between meals. Ask your child whether he’s feeling hungry before he’s seated for a meal. Never force-feed your child.

#6 Involve him in physical sports

When your toddler is involved in physical sports like running, swimming, playing ball, playing in the park etc it is not just good for his physical and cognitive development, it’s good for growing his appetite. Introduce fresh healthy food after physical activities.

Every child is different with their development. Food can be a tricky subject for any mom with a picky eater. I know it better now because I made my 3.5-year-old picky eater eat things that he hated – rice, fish, vegetables, soups etc. It is still a work in progress and I will rest this case the day he starts eating everything without any tantrums or without so much effort from my side. Patience is a virtue! Pediasure has come to my rescue on many of the bad food days.