Watching TV with kids – ‘There are benefits’

With over 100 days into lockdown and many kids around the country only going back to school in the next couple of weeks, most parents can attest to screen time levels having reached an all-time high, said television company SKYWORTH.

SKYWORTH brand manager Jaco Joubert explained, “Lockdown has been tough on everyone, kids included. When parents reach the end of their tether, sometimes the easiest thing to do is to plonk the children in front of the television, while the parent keeps a semi-watchful eye from a distance. It’s often for the sanity of the both the parent and child.

However, while the common adage is that prolonged screen time is bad, new research has found that this may not be the case at all.”

In fact, Jaco said, according to the Child Mind Institute, it’s becoming increasingly evident that if a parent is watching TV with their child, screen time may not be that bad.

He said as long as a parent is an active participant in the screen time, it can have a number of benefits.

“The way young children learn is driven by human interactions and experiences. Technology, aka screen time, can enhance this interactive experiential learning if there is parent participation. Research has shown that when kids watch shows like PBS’s Peg + Cat (DStv channel 313), that teaches early maths skills with a parent or caregiver, the child will retain significantly more than when they watch alone. Plus, there is an enormous variety of educational apps available on Android TVs parents and children can partake in together without having to use an additional device.

Consuming media together provides a parent and child a shared language to communicate in when they’re not watching.

“Questions like ‘remember what Peg did the other day in that situation?’ and ‘why not try that?’ are ways a parent can bring screen time into their kids’ daily lives, making every day experiences more relatable for them. Parents should try and actively engage with their kids while watching a show and talk about what they’re seeing during and after screen time.”

While we may not normally think of watching TV as ‘quality’ time, co-viewing – the term for parents watching TV with their kids – is an opportunity for parents to engage with what their child is interested in, to ask questions, to start a conversation, and to ultimately bond.

“Co-viewing from a relatively young age sets into motion the precedent that screen time is something special that kids and their parents share.”