Quarantined With A 5-Year-Old – Tips, Tricks And More

Tips and tricks to keep your child’s screen time down

1. Get your child engaged in housework- Laundry works great for me. Try introducing concepts such as counting. For example, your child can help put the laundry in the washer while counting it.
2. Make your child independent- This is the best time to get your child to be more independent since you have the liberty of time. They could try to shower on their own, set the table, cleaning up their study desk or arrange it.
3. Be goofy- Yes, kids love it. Once in awhile just let your hair down and be as goofy as you want to be with your child. It’s a win-win situation and a great stress buster for you as well.
4. Try kids yoga or some sort of exercise with your child- They enjoy it and you can get your quota of exercise done for the day.
5. Cook together- Try making simple dishes with them. They love making shapes dosa or roti, baking simple dishes if you are into baking.
6. Album watching- Yes take out those old albums and make it an on activity. Talk about each picture, the people, the place… there is so much conversation that can go on about photograph.
7. Paint or do the craftwork- Go messy. The messier the better. Make sure you mess proof your working space. Try finger, sponge, brush, vegetable painting. It’s a great deal of fun…and gives a spark for creativity in a child.
8. Lego – Lego is guaranteed hours of fun. If you have two children it is a great deal of independent playtime as well. If it is that time of the day where you don’t have the energy, play games like I spy or a guessing game where you can tell an animals characters and child guesses the name. Get creative with this one.
9. Stories- Whether you read books or tell stories, both go a long way for your child’s early development. So do read at least for some time during the day.

Less screen, not no screen time 

These are some tested things that have worked for me. This doesn’t mean my child is the screen. He gets his share of screen time. But I try to ensure the watches something where maybe he can pick up a good language or if on a system I would pick a show like Dr Binocs which gives some educational content too.