Parenting Tip - Ending Screen Time Peacefully

Screen time.  That's a new phrase I didn't know when I was a young mom.  Did you mean screen door?

Nope. 

Screen time.  The time when your child is no longer in the world, but has entered another realm, be it fighting aliens, watching Bob the Builder, or creating his own world with Minecraft. It is very hard to come out of that reality and enter the "now" world.  It's not like going to the park and giving your child a 5 minute warning that you'll be leaving soon.  It's not like giving your child a 15 minute deadline to get his room cleaned.  At times like those, your child is still in this world, he is present in this environment and is alert to what is going on.  Not so when he is in screen time.

 French clinical psychologist, Isabelle Filliozat, has a peaceful, brilliant way to reduce screen time temper tantrums.  Enter your child's  world.  Sit down by her and gently ask a question about what is going on.  "Once the child starts answering your questions or tells you something she has seen or done on screen, it means that she is coming out of the “cut-off” zone and back into the real world. She’s coming out of the state of flow and back into a zone where she is aware of your existence – but slowly. The dopamine doesn’t drop abruptly, because you’ve built a bridge – a bridge between where she is and where you are. You can start to communicate, and this is where the magic happens.

You can choose to start discussing with your child that it’s time to eat, to go have his bath, or simply that screen-time is over now. Because of the minute of easing-in, your child will be in a space where he can listen and react to your request." 

So how do you avoid melt downs when getting your child to end screen time? I encourage you to read this brief, well written article, "How to End Screen Time Without a Struggle."  It explains the science about what is happening in your child's brain when he is in screen time and the technique for scientifically helping his brain adjust back in to the real world. 

Thanks for reading
Cathy
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Parenting Tip - Use the Internet for Good in Your Family

 Have you noticed that anything good in the world has it's opposite?  Think of the contrasts you see in music, movies and books--so much good, but also so much bad.  My mission in life is to find the good, the uplifting, the educational and share it!

I just found some wonderful uplifting videos on lds.org that would be a great addition to your Sunday-after-Church-time for your children to watch or extensions to lessons and Family Home Evenings.

Go to this site more tips on using media to teach your family through videos, pictures, music and even creating your own videos or photographs to share with others.

 Want to share or use quotations with art to go with it?  Check out this section of lds.org for countless illustrated uplifting quotations.

Or how about making your own illustrated quotations?  Photograph your children and add a quote.  I did this years ago in the old fashion homemade way by taking a photograph of my children on my camera, taking the film to the store to get developed, gluing the photo to cardstock, adding the quotation, then taking it to the copy store to be  laminated. 

But now look at the easy, professional results you can get by taking the picture with your smart phone, adding the quotation on the computer and sending it to Walgreens or Costco for a glossy print or poster and getting it back in one hour!!

 Want to find out other ways to use media to uplift your family?  Look here for many more ways.

What else is out there?  Please share with us other sites and ideas on using computers, media and the internet to enhance our families lives.

Thanks for reading,

Cathy
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Parenting Tip - Ways to Filter the Internet on your Computer

My Church had a special Fireside last night and though I didn't want to go, I went.  I hated every minute I was there because it was on a subject I hate--pornography.  But the information was so positive with a twist on parents teaching their children good things, I felt impressed to share it with you.

The title was "Shepherding Your Son's Sexuality".  The speaker, Dan Oakes, talked about positive things to do with your children and said it is our duty, as parents, to teach positive sexuality to our children because Satan is teaching them otherwise.  Here are some points to consider:

*Teach your sons (and daughters) early about developmental facts of their bodies (He suggested age 8 for the "mechanics" of reproduction, then again at age 11 before puberty really starts to happen-though sexual feelings start gradually at a earlier age too)

*Focus on the physical development of the body and also the moral issues.  Talk about how it's natural to feel the feelings they are experiencing.  God made them that way on purpose, but there is a time and place for expressing love and these feelings. 

 

*Talk about what is normal and what is not acceptable behavior.

*Acknowledge sexuality as a gift from God--that's how families are made and how husbands and wives remain close to each other in marriage

*Show strong and abiding affection for your spouse

*Talk regularly about sexual feelings, computer use, things you see on TV, happenings at school—on a monthly basis!

*Control your computer!!!  Filter the internet before it gets to your house by using a DNS server company.  This is a free service and filters about 80% of the pornography.  See OpenDNS.com

Some routers are designed to filter even banner adds.  Pandorashope.com
Filter by limiting the access through the log-in screen. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Turn-the-guest-account-on-or-off

Filter the internet with tools already in internet explorer to filter content.  Open Internet Explorer by clicking the Start button.  In the search box, type Internet Explorer, and then in the list of results, click Internet Explorer.  Click the Tools button and then click Internet options.  Click the Content tab.

Filter the internet by utilizing Safe Search on the major search engines.  You must have an account with these websites like a Gmail account or a MSN or Hotmail account, and has to be activated in the account settings.

Parents, you must TEACH your children correct principles before the world teaches them false lies.

What a blessing we have as stewards over our children to teach them of a loving God and His plan for happiness.

Thanks for reading-Cathy


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Music Tip #79 Practice Music Skills at the Computer!

In one of my previous blogs, I mentioned having computer time for children during the week.  There are a lot of educational sites out there for children from art and drawing to puzzles and logic games.  Summer is a great time to reinforce some musical skills.  Here are a few sites that offer general music information as well as honing in on those rhythm and note naming skills which are so important.

http://www.musictechteacher.com/musicquizzes.htm  This site has a ton of information on theory, instrument families, quizzes and games for piano note reading and rhythm skills.

http://www.8notes.com/games  I especially like the note trainer and keyboard trainer on this site.  You can click on toggle to give more help for beginners and change the settings to make the parameters fit where your child needs practice.  This site also has free lessons in music theory.

http://www.makingmusicfun.net/htm/arcade.htm This site has some fun arcade games to help with note naming and rhythm

 http://www.primarygames.com/arcade/music/musicalnotes/index.htm Another fun arcade game site

http://www.practicespot.com/theorycenter.phtml?t=59 This site has lots of info for the teacher, but also drill pages to copy for students as well as online quiz sheets.

Kids love to play computer games, so the smart parents will utilize this to their advantage and let their children learn while they play.