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Hi, I am Dr. Mona Amin, a board-certified pediatrician in the United States, a mom of two, and I share information online and in my office to make parents feel more confident in their choices and their parenting journey.

It seems children are naturally attracted to screens. Is that inherently bad? Excessive exposure to fast moving or overstimulating content has been linked to shorter attention spans and difficulty with impulse control. But the best thing here to do is setting clear limits and encouraging real life experiences and prioritizing sleep and meals so that children can build healthy habits around the screens.

So is a healthy use of screens possible and if so how? I do think that healthy use of screens is possible and it’s something that we as adults have to model as well. The biggest thing is emphasizing that healthy screen habits include quality content, co-engagement with the caregiver whenever possible and consistent boundaries. When screen time is balanced with rich offline experiences, children can benefit cognitively and emotionally.

Do they have valid reasons to feel guilty? There are valid reasons to feel guilty. I do think it’s important to re-evaluate that intentionality. Guilt isn’t useful if you’re using it intentionally. So many parents are navigating real challenges and may end up using screens more often than not. And I talk about this being in a season of change or maybe you’re using it in a different way. So maybe you have a new baby in the house and your older child wants more screen time. That’s not forever. So there are seasons. So when you look at screen use as seasons and not the standard, don’t feel bad if you’re going over recommendations because it is in the end about that big picture.

So does it mean that all parents should let go of the guilt? If you are using the screen with thought and intention and you are balancing it with other purposeful activities, I don’t think you need to have the guilt. Now when it comes to overuse of screens, I don’t want to put it as a frame of guilt because that can feel very shameful. I think it’s so important to be reflective of the use and that’s not only the child’s use of screens but the adults use of screen as well. When we parent from a place of guilt, we are not parenting from a place of authenticity because guilt can take the driver’s seat and then we don’t make decisions that are aligned with our values. So when I talk about guilt, I talk about let’s go back and think about what our family values are and our values towards screens are. So it’s not necessarily screen time rules. It’s a value system of, hey, I value being outdoors with my child. So, when you think about your value system, then you’re going to be less likely to feel guilty because you’re going to have, you know, the ability to say, okay, there’s going to be times and seasons where I may do a little bit less or a little bit more. So, I really encourage parents to tell themselves, look at the value system, because that’s the goal, right? I want my parents to show up more authentically, more like themselves. and guilt, shame, judgment, all of that can make us feel like we’re failing when we’re actually not.

Well, thank you so much for your answers. It’s been extremely helpful.