Positive Parenting: How screen time impacts kids' development

You might be wondering, if your kids are spending too much time gazing at a screen, you know, their home from school and all that, can that delay their development? Well, the Journal of the American Medical Association has a one-word answer, yes. Too much screen time for children at the age of, say, one, can lead to developmental delays. They're not going to be talking as well or solving problems when they're two, three, and four. As Dr. Marie Trace with the Cleveland Clinic points out, the child really isn't active. If I'm looking at a screen, there's not a lot that's being asked of me, right, versus navigating my environment, playing with my toys, being outside. So how much screen time should a parent allow? The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screen time before 18 months, and then no more than an hour a day for children ages two to five.