Reasons to Have a Screen Time Policy
Children and parents rely on family care programs and child care centers to provide opportunities for active learning. However, young children are introduced to technology at home and spend time on screens with their family before they come to a child care program. An effective screen time policy benefits the child care program as well as the children because it helps to:
- Demonstrate the child care center's commitment to children's health and well-being.
- Identify the child care center plan for intentional, interactive, and developmentally appropriate screen time use.
- Educate families regarding the child care center technology practices.
- Ensure compliance with COMAR and best practices based on national recommendations.
Watch the following video to hear Dr. Michael Brody, child psychiatrist and former head of the media committee of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, explain the importance of building a screen time policy for your program.
The day-to-day practices of child care programs play a key role in helping children grow and develop. This includes taking time to make thoughtful decisions about technology-based activities that engage children in active learning using high-quality media. While devices are fun for children to use, they should never be a replacement for the personal interaction between children and their peers, or their families and providers.
Check It Out!
The Maryland EXCELS Toolkit provides interactive tools, information and resources to help child care providers make quality improvements in their early childhood or school-age program. The Toolkit offers step-by-step guides detailing requirements for each Quality Rating, and features an interactive Policy and Statement Builder tool for developing policy statements.
>> The Maryland EXCELS Toolkit
