How We Make Screen Time More Interactive: Simple Tips from Our Family
Antonio is a father of one and a member of our fantastic Parent Panel*, a diverse community of Bright Horizons parents sharing their experiences of raising happy, thriving and confident children. In this blog, he shares how his family makes screen time more intentional, interactive and connected to everyday play.
Screen time, alongside sleep routines, is probably one of the most contentious parenting topics of the early years. Official recommendations vary widely around the globe and, closer to home, approaches can differ just as much from one household to the next.
In our group of friends with toddlers, we see a full spectrum when it comes to screen time, ranging from ‘zero’ to ‘most days’. Whichever strategy you employ in your own household, below are our personal tips on how we try to make screen time more engaging and interactive. These are very personal to our routine, so they might not work for all families or fit with your own personal boundaries, but you might just find an idea or two worth trying!
- Be intentional with the big screen
From the outset, we decided to make TV time very intentional. We keep a list of shows that we think are suitable and age-appropriate. We especially love shows that mimic stories read in books, such as Jim and the Beanstalk or Little Red Riding Hood, so we can have multiple versions of the same story and talk about the differences together. It gives us a great chance to chat about details on screen: “On the TV, the hunter wears blue, but in our book, he wears brown.”
- Be present: Talk, point, act
Co-watching is one of the most helpful ways to make TV an active experience. Adults find it annoying when someone is chatting at the cinema, but in our house, talking is completely allowed. In fact, it is preferred and encouraged! I was probably quite annoying at the beginning when we started introducing TV, constantly pointing things out: “Look, she has this!” or “Look at that!” But, over time, our daughter has started doing the exact same thing back to us, exclaiming “Look, she has a red dress!” It helps move from passive viewing into a two-way conversation.
- Take it off-screen
Playing soundtracks or playlists on Spotify is a fantastic way to extend screen time and familiarity without actually having a screen turned on. We also love using screen moments to spark real-world play. For instance, we used to show our daughter a short YouTube clip of the emotions from Inside Out, which she loved (since we think she is still a bit too young to understand the entire film). We then got her a few little action figures of the characters, and now she prefers roleplaying with the figures over watching the clip.
- Small screens are for photos and distant relatives
We tend to keep small screens (phones and tablets) for connecting with people and sharing moments. The main use of the small screen in our house is to video call relatives who live in a different country, which helps our daughter stay close with family from afar. We also love looking at nursery updates together; for instance, Bright Horizons sends us occasional videos of the Theatre Bugs sessions. We love showing these to our daughter; she likes to see herself dancing with her friends and telling us all their names. It’s actually how we got to know a bit about her friends!
- Screen time to foster a minority language
This might be a bit niche and not applicable to everyone, but we are a multilingual family, with Portuguese as our ‘minority language’. Adding TV shows in Portuguese to expand our daughter’s vocabulary has been invaluable, as it is unlikely she would get that full level of exposure otherwise. However, this really only works well for us when we combine it with points 1, 2, and 3 above.
Every family finds their own balance and approach that works for them in terms of screen time. But we’ve found that by staying intentional, co-watching, and bringing those screen stories into everyday play and conversation, screen time can feel a bit more like a shared, engaging experience for the whole family.
