Can screen time really help my kids? Yes... the secret is.... YOU!

YOU are what makes anything truly educational! That’s right. 

Before age 3, children’s brains need REAL people and REAL-LIFE interaction to truly learn and to make that learning stick. No educational app/show/toy replaces YOU--that’s why you are so golden. You make that app come to life, like magic!

However, ALL of these tools can BECOME educational with you there, interacting with your little one while they play.  Your little’s brain learns from interacting with you big people brain. Little people NEED big people's brains, particularly those first few years of life, to make sense of the world, particularly the 2D world. 

So play the app WITH your child. Who knows, you may even find it fun!  If that’s not an option, sit with your child toward the end of their app time and have some conversations. That sounds like:

“Can you show me what you just drew here?”

“Let’s sing the nursery rhyme you just practiced together!”

“What color puzzle did you put together today?”

“Would you like to go get your paints and try this out on paper? 

If you are a parent, we don’t have to tell you ALL the educational EVERYTHING that gets marketed to you: educational tv, toys, educational games, educational apps, all with promises to get your little one ahead of the game and on the fast track to their future. But remember, no one OWNS the word educational. There aren’t any regulations around it! It’s a marketing word. So use tech as a tool that helps YOU parent and spark conversations with your little one. 

We have a whole list of educational app recs in our course: Raising Tech-Wise Littles! (Link at the bottom of the page!)