Children and Family Services strives to provide the most current and comprehensive guidance and coaching to parents so that they may feel competent and masterful in supporting their child’s development and growth. As we know that healthy development occurs in the context of secure and caring relationships, one way we do that is by supporting connection and engagement between caregivers and children and providing families with developmentally appropriate activities that they can engage in without relying on screen time.

As cited in the Journal of the American Medical Association – Pediatrics (JAMA-Pediatrics), infants and toddlers who are exposed to several hours of screen time per day demonstrated more developmental delays than their peers whose screen time was limited. Additionally, toddlers who are exposed to more screen time have fewer conversations with others; they say less and hear less. Screens are not just linked to higher rates of obesity, depression and hyperactivity among children, they also limit face-to-face interactions with others at home.

While the JAMA-Pediatrics article does not indicate that screen time causes delays, the patterns of delays associated with higher levels of screen time highlight the value of face-to-face time for young children. As providers, our goal is to support the parent-child relationship and to provide families with strategies that allow them to engage in play, communication, and socialization with their child in order to build skills in all areas of development.

In addition to our individual services, our twice monthly playgroup offers clients the opportunity to learn about wonderful activities they can access in their communities such as library story times, parks, children’s museums, zoos, etc. and provides families with a safe and supportive opportunity to join others in exploration.

Technology and media are not going away, so we also collaborate with families in finding content designed to be viewed by parents and children together that might allow for more conversational turn-taking and can make occasional screen time a connected, social, and more language-rich activity. Development is all about learning together!

If you’d like to learn more about this topic, click here. 

Find more information on our Playgroup here: Playgroup Flyer Jan-Jun 2024