Parenting in the Digital Age

It’s 5 am on a Saturday morning. I open Instagram and begin scrolling. Hundreds of videos of cats, memes, people’s food and much, much more.



I check my phone: it’s 6 am. I feel that sense of shame- another productive morning wasted. I should have continued sleeping. What is the point of waking up early if I am going to be browsing the internet? I am punishing myself at this point.

As a mom who tries to be productive, we have all been here. Perhaps you are reading this article as a mean of escaping your reality. If that’s the case, I hope you find this read compelling enough to keep you going till you get some inspiration.

At the same time, a part of me wishes you stop reading. In fact, don’t read this if your child is looking at you crying for your attention. Come back here when you have given him/her your 100% self. That’s the best advice I can give.



If you are still here despite having something important to do- I have another advice: avoid “addictive” media. It is designed to grab your attention and hook you from the minute you log in. It’s easier to keep scrolling on your phone than to get out of bed.

Read more kidsnclicks.com

Toy company funds research suggesting educational development can be hindered by early formal schooling. So are UK schools getting it wrong?



Parents are squeezing the role of play out of their children’s lives in favour of the three ‘R’s as they try to prepare their offspring for a competitive world, according to the head of Lego’s education charity arm.

A lack of understanding of the value of play is prompting parents and schools alike to reduce it as a priority, says Hanne Rasmussen, head of the Lego Foundation. If parents and governments push children towards numeracy and literacy earlier and earlier, it means they miss out on the early play-based learning that helps to develop creativity, problem-solving and empathy, she says.

According to Rasmussen, the evidence for play-based learning has built enormously over the last decade, but parents don’t know about it. “Both in the formal education system and in the homes of children, the focus on the value of play is rather limited. That’s really something we want to work on – to improve the understanding of the value of play and what play really can do, where more and more it is squeezed by a desire both from the formal system and from parents that children should learn specific literacy and numeracy quite early.” Advertisement

The intervention by Rasmussen directly challenges the knowledge-based, heavily tested approach to schooling favoured by the UK government – and questioned by many education practitioners.



The 29-year-old Lego Foundation, generously funded with a quarter of Lego’s post-tax profits, is beginning to flex its muscles. Where once it quietly dished out cash – and bricks – to lots of small projects, it has set its sights on campaigning for a mindset change in education around the world. “Our contribution to the world is to challenge the status quo by redefining play and reimagining learning,” says the foundation’s mission statement.

Part of the mission involves putting £4m into a new “Lego professorship” at Cambridge University – the first incumbent will be chosen in April – and supporting an accompanying Centre for Research on Play in Education, Development and Learning (Pedal). There are more links with Harvard, MIT and other prestigious institutions. The aim is to provide an incontrovertible academic underpinning to the educational value of play, and to define more clearly what works and how to measure it, arming Lego with more evidence to support its campaigning.

Read more theguardian.com

Children as young as five should be treated for depression using smartphone therapy, NHS watchdogs have ruled.



The new advice from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) says all children and young people suffering from mild depression should be offered “cognitive behavioural therapy” - delivered via mobile phones and tablets.

The guidance, for identifying and managing depression in children and young people aged five to 18, says online therapy and courses in mindfulness should be the first options for treatment of mild cases.

Nice said the programmes meant children could get faster access to psychological help, avoiding long waiting lists.

GPs will be able to recommend digital CBT programmes, which can be accessed via smartphones, computers and tablets.

Such programmes use interactive games, animations, quizzes, puzzles and interactive games, with questions to identify dysfunctional thinking and tasks to help challenge negative thoughts.

Other modules look at developing coping strategies, setting goals and finding ways to improve self esteem.

Some programmes alert children identified as having potentially suicidal thoughts to go back to their doctor or counsellor for more help.



The new guidance also recommends group cognitive behavioural therapy, and group sessions of mindfulness training as first-line treatments.

Nice said that these, along with digital options, should be offered by GPs and other health professionals if children had continuing symptoms of mild depression, but did not have suicidal thoughts or other significant health conditions.

Children should be given a choice of treatments, officials said.

And Nice said healthcare professionals working in schools as well as at GP practices should be trained to detect symptoms of depression in children as young as five.

The guidance has been fast-tracked amid warnings that the NHS has been left “picking up the pieces” of an epidemic of mental health problems, fuelled by social media.

Read more telegraph.co.uk

I have this puzzle too.



I used it gradually. At first, to learn to place them in shape. Later I used it to learn the colors. At the end we used it to learn geometric shapes.



It is recommended that we adapt our requirements to the age of children. We first learn simple elements. Then difficult elements.

Winter is the most beautiful season for children. If you have the courage to go out and you know how to play with the kids.



You can go skiing. Beginners or advanced. If these locations are too far from your home you can go out in the park. Choose some toys and play in the snow with them.



Winter is not an enemy of health. He is a friend.