How do you manage screen time for yourself?
Beginning of this week, I experienced mixed of negative emotions. The sun was burning my skin. My body, soul and spirit felt lazy and weak.
The only activity for us that require minimum energy was screen time. After few moments, I realized I’ve been scrolling and watching to bunch of random contents, from some parenting advice, to success stories of some young entrepreneurs, et cetera.
I felt sad, miserable, powerless, and lame. How could these people make an impactful life out there? What about me? I cook for my toddler like twice a day, and yet she doesn’t seem to enjoy her food and always be underweight? I started to compare my life with those people on social media.
I shared my feelings on a mommies group in WhatsApp. We shared our ups and downs in the group, and I felt quite at ease knowing that I am not alone in this journey. Until, few hours later, I received a direct message from a fellow mom. She shared her stories, and encouraged me to shrug it off and take a step up.
She told me it’s okay to feel bad about myself, but don’t stay there too long. Time flies and our negative emotions won’t bring much impact.
This wise mommy did not only help me get out from self pity, she sent me some samples of DIY activities to stimulate my toddler’s motoric and sensory skills. Below are some activity samples she sent me (she took these from Pinterest).
She told me that babies are more thoughtful, analytical and intelligent than we’d ever imagine. Get up and never stop stimulating her brain, as often as possible, and she’ll learn to enjoy her food.
Being convinced, I followed her advice and bought some stationeries at the mall. Instead of screen time, I spent my morning created some DIY activities for my baby. “Babies are more thoughtful, analytical, and intelligent than we’d ever imagine. Get up and never stop stimulating her brain as often as possible.” These words kept ringing in my ears.
Below you will find one of activities we played today. Believe it or not, my baby started to eat more than usual. She hasn’t gained much weight yet, but she started to enjoy her food. That’s the most important thing for me.
As conclusion, screen time is good, as long as you know how to use and manage it effectively. Have you scrolled for hours on your IG? Have you started to lose focus, or lose track of your true purpose after scrolling? Do you find yourself yearn to live someone else’s life? Do you feel disappointed to yourself and surroundings for your failures?
Well, if the answers are yes, then you probably need to stop the screen time. Remind yourself that there are more great things out there that we can do to solve our problems, to reach our goals, and to pursue our callings.
Especially, with kiddos, young children learn by exploring their environment and watching the adults in their lives, and then imitating them. Excessive screen time may inhibit a child’s ability to observe and experience the typical everyday activities they need to engage with in order to learn about the world.
Bless This Mess 