Digital Parenting Guide: Toddlers (0-3)
A Psychotherapist Shares Digital Parenting Insights and Tips for Toddlers (Under 3 Years Old)
How early is ‘too early’ for screen time? Can technology help my infant learn?
These are common questions for parents of young toddlers, but unfortunately, the answers aren’t always so simple. This guide aims to provide tips and guidance for managing toddlers’ early relationships with mobile technology.
According to a journal released by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), screen time for toddlers under the age of 3 is not advised but can be appropriate in small, supervised doses. For infants younger than 18 months? Screen time should be avoided, altogether.
A key reason cited is that personal interactions are essential to the healthy cognitive development in these important formative years, and — not surprisingly — babies can’t learn from digital media what they can from a parent or caregiver.
If you choose to introduce media to children 18–36 months, the AAP recommends finding co-view and co-play programs. Moreover, they highlight limiting screen time to no more than one hour per day.
Remember, screen time isn’t all the same. Distracting a toddler Netflix could be considered a ‘low quality’ digital experience for an infant, whereas choosing an interactive learning game to play together could arguably provide some benefit.
It’s worth noting that the AAP does encourage occasional “Video Chat” interactions with family and loved ones (say, FaceTiming or Skyping a grandparent living in a different city). Recognizing, mimicking, and reacting to tone and facial expressions is essential at this age, and that experience is not entirely lost in video chat! Of course, there’s the added benefit of building relationships with loved ones.
“Children need someone to reassure them that play — their own, unique, imaginative play — is something to be valued.”
– Fred Rogers
Age Appropriate Unplugging Activities for Toddlers
Playing with Building Blocks or Playdough
Tactile play helps toddlers develop hand-eye coordination and confidence. Of course, building blocks and playdough are listed, but there are endless unplugged activities that can help young toddlers develop coordination!
Peek-a-Boo or Hide and Seek
An age-old favorite! Peek-a-Boo is not only fun for toddlers, but it encourages facial reactions (like surprise!), which is both fun and instructive for babies and toddlers. For mobile toddlers, you can hide a toy and encourage them to find it with some guidance and direction.
Visual-Oriented Reading
Toddlers won’t be able to read yet, but image association is an important first step to developing language skills. Engage with your baby throughout the reading process — for example, read a book about farm animals, and encourage them to sound out the animal noises.
Tips for Unplugged Toddler Play
In an article looking at Parent-Child Interaction Therapy by S.M Eyberg, play is defined as “ the primary medium through which children develop problem-solving skills and work through developmental problems” so when thinking about unplugging activities, try to incorporate play as much as you can.
Give Praise
During play, try to minimize commands and criticisms. Instead, implement praise to reinforce creativity, build confidence, and facilitate mental processes. For example, you could clap and smile or explicitly state “I like the way you’re playing so quietly!”.
Describe Behaviors and Actions
Toddlers begin to pick up on language well before they speak independently. To reinforce speech development and mental processes, describe what your child is doing in the moment. For example: “You are putting the red Lego on top of the yellow one,” or “you are holding the monkey’s hand.”
The toys that you incorporate should promote creativity. For example, legos, building blocks, Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head, and crayons.
Recommended Apps for Toddlers (Aged 0–3)
Wondering about some popular age-appropriate apps?
I’ve shared a handful, below, though I strongly recommend all parents independently research apps before introducing them to kids of all ages.
It’s also imperative to remember that these apps should not be used for toddlers under 18 months, and should be used with supervision — in very small doses — for those 18 months to 3 years of age.
TallyTots Counting ($2.99)
This app has puzzles and games that teach quantity, order, and sorting. It also incorporates sing-along counting songs to help develop speech and familiarity with numbers by teaching toddlers to learn how to count up to 100.
Mini ZOO Alphabet ($2.99)
This app has 60 game cards with diverse animals and letters to help your child learn the alphabet!
Kapu Bloom Tunes ($1.99)
This coloring app helps young toddlers ‘tap to color’ basic images, which can be a great way to encourage coordination. The included melodies add an adorable touch!
OurPact Features and Tips
Even when device use is being monitored by parents, you should still limit what is available on the device using a combination of OurPact management features:
If you share your personal device with your toddler…
- App Rules
Make sure any sensitive applications (eg. email, social media, work-related apps, iMessage) are set as Always Blocked in your OurPact App Rules list. This will prevent them from being accidentally accessed during playtime.
Then, set any toddler play apps as Blocked By Schedule in the App Rules tab.
- Schedules
Create a block schedule for common playtimes. This will allow you to block access to apps you don’t want accessible while allowing toddler-appropriate apps for ‘granted’ period of time (see below!).
- Manual Grant
Set a manual block for less than one hour (say, 15 to 30 minutes). When the time expires, the application will automatically block, holding you — and your toddler! — accountable to a short digital play period.
Please Note: You will want to use OurPact Premium’s App Organizer to prevent apps from rearranging on your device after a block. You can learn more about this issue and our solution here.
If you aren’t sharing a personal device with your toddler…
If you have an old tablet or phone set aside for your toddler to use, you can instead opt to keep only toddler-appropriate apps and functions on the device. From there…
- App Rules
Set any device functions you still don’t want accessible (eg. Safari, iMessage) as Always Blocked. Set all other toddler-approved apps as Blocked By Schedule.
- Screen Time Allowance
From there, create a daily Screen Time Allowance of less than one hour. Play Allowance in OurPact Jr. and, when time runs out, you know that screen time for your toddler is up for the day!
If you have multiple children sharing a tablet… you can reassign the device to your toddler’s specific profile before playtime. This will automatically change the functions and rules on the device to accommodate your toddler. Learn how to reassign devices in OurPact here, and reach out to support@ourpact.com if you have any questions!
What have your experiences been managing screen time for toddler aged children? Do you feel that screen time provides valuable engagement for infants of this age? Share your thoughts and suggestions for apps below!
About the Author. Negeen Moussavian, M.A., AMFT, is a Registered Associate Marriage & Family Therapist based out of Los Angeles, California (#107771). After receiving her Masters in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University, Negeen dedicated her practice to helping her clients navigate life challenges. She has extensive experience working with children and families. To learn more, visit TherapyWithNegeen.com.
