Parents of under-fives in England to be offered screen time guidance

Parents of children under 5 in England will be given official advice on how much time their children should spend watching TV or staring at computer screens.

The government has announced that it will publish its first guidance on screen time for the age group in April.

It sounds like this Government research published showed that approximately 98% of children under the age of two watch screens on a daily basis; Parents, teachers and nursery school staff said teenagers had difficulty conversing or concentrating on learning.

It was reported that children who were in front of a screen for about five hours a day were able to say significantly fewer words than children who watched for about 44 minutes at the other end of the screen.

A national working group, led by England’s Children’s Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, and Professor Russell Viner, scientific advisor to the Department for Education, will create the guidance after speaking to parents, children and early childhood practitioners.

The terms of reference for his work will be published on Monday.

The guide will also help parents find screen time alternatives for their children.

Government research has shown that 77% of two-year-olds read a book every day in the highest-income families, compared with 32% in the lowest-income families.

Education Minister Bridget Phillipson said in a statement: “Screens are now part of family life. The question parents are asking is not whether to use them, but how to use them well.”

Writing early in the Sunday Times, Phillipson said: “Like many parents, I’ve experienced evenings where you give in when your little one wants ‘just one more episode’ of their favorite programme. But when ‘just one more’ starts to escalate, we start to see the risks.”

He suggested that parents can share a story on a tablet computer or use it for educational games.

Felicity Gillespie, director of charity Kindred Squared, said the “evidence-based” screen time guidance for parents was “long overdue and very welcome”.

The Kindred survey shows that 40% of parents think reducing screen time will help ensure their child is ready for Reception. This, he says, underlines the demand for practical and reliable guidance in the early years.

“We must increase public understanding of how screens and devices can interfere with how babies and toddlers best learn—by looking at facial expressions, chatting, singing, and playing,” Gillespie said.

Neil Leitch, of the Early Years Alliance, said he generally welcomed plans to develop guidance on screen time for under-fives, but added: “It is important that such support on this issue is embedded within much wider framework of guidance for families and educators on digital literacy and online safety.”