Digital world – Left to their own devices

When it comes to babies and toddlers ‘let’s get digital’ can be harder to say than ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’.

It makes me wonder how atrocious or precocious the infamous super nanny Mary Poppins would find our modern digital world. Too scared of the parentati on social media to have my own opinion, I asked a family member and experienced nanny.

As the rise of tablets and mobile phones continue so does the growing concerns, research and debate on how much ‘screen time’ toddlers should have.

According to the Ministry of Health review children under 2 should steer clear of the screen altogether, and 2-5 year olds should have a max of one hour a day. It was part of guidelines promoting physical activity for motor skills and communication, with evidence suggesting TV or tablets were associated with poor sleep.

The nanny agrees, and says toddlers learn basic skills through movement and play. “Have you ever tried to get a one year old to sit still. They naturally want to pull themselves up and look at things.”

On the other hand children shows, books, puzzles and education apps can be great learning tools for toddlers, especially if the caregiver is interacting too. Getting The Wonky Donkey to fart on the app is one way to develop repetitive fine motor skills!

And bilingual app (English and Māori) Peekaboo helps with ‘object permanence’ and facial recognition.

Most importantly the nanny says babies to toddlers are growing and developing at a rapid rate, so if you can teach them to learn, you’ve opened them up to their future.

But of course digital devices aren’t babysitters and children shouldn’t be left to their own devices, literally. You can find some tips to keep your kids safe at netsafe.org.nz.

Meanwhile, there are lots of great tools to make life easier for parents and caregivers.

A new baby mumma friend recommended baby-connect.com which tracks daily information about children from feeding to activities and can be shared between caregivers and parents.

Plunket it slowly digitising its recording. And there are apps for everything from a Baby Shusher to soothe babies, to meditation to soothe parents.