Screen time.

Or even books what learning books do you use?

I honestly don’t listen to that stuff because I know my kid is not in front of a screen 24/7. I also don’t use phones or tablets/ iPads with mine, but she does watch tv. Everything in moderation. Your kid can have screen time and there is little to no way to truly avoid it, I honestly limit my child to 2hrs a day and that is honestly broken up. Like she’ll watch 15 minutes here or there and then we do an activity together, and then maybe 3-4 hours later she’ll watch something else for a short amount of time. But those 15 minutes can be the difference of me breathing it out and calming myself down or completely loosing my mind. Also with screen time I limit it to educational and also stimulating so that i can participate with her. Again everything in moderation, don’t set them up for hours on end all day but a little bit is not going to harm them. My kid can easily walk away from the tv and play outside if I asked. There are also a lot of free stimulating activites you can make such a

Play-doh, I did an activity where I just filled a bowl with soap and water and made bubbles and that kept my kid occupied for awhile. Simple projects can be the best, and can easily be accessed online.

1. In my opinion, tv a kid can't control and an ipad they can (and hold inches away from their faces) are different. 2. For something with low stimulation on the TV, I will put on an aquarium screensaver on our Roku, or bird cams for cats or just footage of live animals like cows. We also watch a lot of game shows, which I feel are not overly stimulating either. In a world of screens, it is impossible to avoid them all the time. 2. Set limits, both for your kids and yourself. So much screen time before eyes need a break. No mindless doom scrolling or clicking from video to video to video. Short videos like tiktoks are terrible for attention spans. 3. As far as toys, just follow kiddos interests. They tend to be interested in our things at this age so give a couple of bowls and spoons and let him play. Give him soup cans to build with, a cookie sheet with magnets or hot wheels for ramp play. 4. It's okay for him to be bored. Our job is not to cure their boredom. Boredom is a gift.

Toy rotation. My step son had a ton of occupational therapy and was an iPad kid. He's not anymore and is catching up on speech and motor skill delays. My son is 20 months old and does get to watch TV. He's seen ms rachel a little, but it's intensional tv time and we sing together. Also, they just get bored. Make sure the toys are open ended for play. Look up montessori toys for that age. I lay out a handful of toys and store the rest for our toy rotation. Also, outside time helps a lot. Let them get dirty. If they aren't in danger, let them play

Some activities we do/ have done: - taste safe paint art - colouring and stickers - help with laundry & dishwasher - taste safe “mud” and water and put his toy animals in the mud and then clean them with the water and sponges - give him ice cubes and spoons and water and different containers - read books (although it’s mostly pointing/counting/ identifying things because he never lets me really read a whole story) - we spend a lot of time at the park - one where you push a tips into an egg carton for dexterity - I could go on and on 😂 That being said we also watch miss rachel 😂

Thank you ladies!

We went screen free for our kids when my little girl was born. With the exception of movie night on Fridays with my step daughter ( 6 years old). It's the best thing we did. My step daughter struggled a bit but now it's made life so easy. She got over being bored really quickly and has been much more creative. My LG who 19 months independently plays a lot. Play dough, stamps, colors, she loves stickers. Also loves being outside, we have a little playset, a sand box and water table. It's great for them to be bored!! It fosters creativity and helps them be okay without being constantly stimulated.