Limiting screen time helps enhance children’s language development, social skills, and physical health.

Consistency and involvement in diverse, engaging activities are key to creating a balanced routine. Here are some tips for parents who are advised to limit their children’s screen time, recommended by speech and language pathologists from the Sindh Institute of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation:

1. Set Clear Boundaries and Schedules

• Consistent Routine:
  Establish specific times for screen use, ensuring it does not interfere with meals, sleep, or outdoor activities.
  
  Screen-Free Zones: Designate areas in the house, such as the dining room and bedrooms, as screen-free zones to encourage family interaction and healthy sleep habits.
  
  

2. Language-Rich Activities

• Conversation and Interaction: Engage in daily conversations with your child. Ask open-ended questions to encourage them to express themselves.
• Narrate Daily Activities: Describe what you’re doing as you go about your daily tasks. This helps expand vocabulary and understanding.
  
  

3. Reading Together

• Read Aloud: Read books aloud to your child, using different voices and expressions to make the story engaging.

• Discuss the Story: Ask questions about the story, the characters, and what might happen next to stimulate critical
  thinking and comprehension.
  
  

4. Interactive Play
   

• Role-Playing Games: Encourage pretend play scenarios, such as playing house, store, or doctor. This helps with
  narrative skills and social interaction.
• Toy Play: Use toys like dolls, action figures, or stuffed animals to create stories and dialogues, enhancing language skills.
  
  

5. Arts and Crafts with a Focus on Language
   

• Describe and Discuss: Talk about the colors, shapes, and materials you’re using while doing arts and crafts.

• Instructional Language: Give step-by-step instructions and encourage your child to follow them or describe what they are doing.
  
  

6. Songs and Rhymes
   

• Sing Together: Sing nursery rhymes, children’s songs, or make up your own songs. Singing can help with rhythm, intonation, and vocabulary.

• Action Rhymes: Use songs with actions (e.g., “Itsy Bitsy Spider”) to combine language with movement.

7. Board Games and Puzzles
   

• Language-Based Games: Choose games that promote language skills, such as “Guess Who?”, “Charades,” or word-based board games.
• Describe and Predict: While playing, encourage your child to describe their moves, predict outcomes, and explain their
  
  

8. Cooking and Baking

• Follow Recipes: Cook or bake together, following recipes step-by-step. Discuss measurements, ingredients, and the
  cooking process.
• Narrative Skills: Have your child recount the cooking process as a story from beginning to end.
  
  

9. Daily Routine Integration

• Routine Language: Incorporate language activities into daily routines. For example, during bath time, describe actions and objects (“Now we are washing your hair with shampoo”).
• Labeling: Label objects around the house and use those labels to build vocabulary and language skills.
• Nature Walks: Go on nature walks and talk about what you see. Collect items like leaves or rocks and discuss their
  
  

10. Interactive Storytelling

• Create Stories: Make up stories together, taking turns adding to the narrative. This promotes creativity and language use.
• Story Prompts: Use picture cards or objects as prompts to create and tell stories.

References:
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA): asha.org
The Hanen Centre: hanen.org
Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT): rcslt.org