Thanks again to all the parents who attended our first parent workshop of the year. It was a great turnout and good to see parents getting proactive when creating positive and healthy environments for our young ones. Thanks also to Bernie Eastwood from The Focal Point Optometrist who important information and tips to improve our children’s health, development, and wellbeing.
Key messages presented by Bernie included the importance of a balance of eye use and training in younger people – so that they are able to develop a whole range of important functions properly and avoid both general and eye-related issues later in life. Please see below for her recommendations.
- At least 2 hours of outside play each day (sun-protected),
- No more than 45 mins of any near-looking (closer than 20 cm) viewing (screens or other),
- Children ages 5-8 maximum of 1.5 to 2 hours of screen time per day,
- When participating in close looking activities (further than 20cm) try to keep an object (book or screen) at least 40-50 cm away.
Thank you also to Holden Lai, who helped run through how the Screentime functionality can assist parents in both monitoring and controlling children’s screen usage. Holden’s expertise was invaluable and support offered to help our parents set up their own family devices was hopefully useful and practical. Please find a link to tips at home to encourage a supportive and healthy lifestyle as well as for instructions as to how to use the Screentime app yourself.
Raising Children – School-age screen time tips for balance
If you have further questions or need further support, please don’t hesitate to contact me at school.
Luke Johnson