Age 0-5

The Do’s

• Engage in caring, distraction-free, responsive back-and-forth (“serve-and-return”) interactions between you and your child as much as possible.
• Prioritize real-life play – physical, hands-on play like building, drawing, pretend play, open-ended, and/or free play – for optimal child development
• Avoid screen time for children under two years old, with the exception of video chatting.
• Before allowing media access, watch for demonstrated child ability to self-regulate, self-calm or find solutions to difficulty or upset (developmental readiness)
• When using media, choose content carefully, and pull back if a child shows signs of negative impacts of screens.
• Distracting and engaging content is not necessarily quality content
• Signs of a high-quality app for preschoolers:
  • Active – Requires the child to think or do something, not just passively watching.
  • Engaging – Design and content engages the child in the main purpose, rather than distracting or unnecessarily capturing attention.
  • Meaningful to the child– Content is relevant to the child’s life and level of understanding
  • Iterative – Changes each time a child interacts with it and based on prior performance, beyond just getting a grade or a hand clapping.
  • Socially interactive – Encourages engagement with other people
  • Joyful to experience – is pleasurable for the child
• Talk with your child about the media content they see and ask questions that connect the content to other happenings in your child’s life.
• Put your own phone down and away when interacting with infants and young children. Research shows parent/caregiver media use impacts your infant and young child.