Every day children are inundated by endless media messages intended to educate, entertain, or influence their behavior. It takes commitment and effort on the part of parents to monitor and help interpret these external influences on children.
Children start forming media habits and preferences from a very young age. You can help set them up for a healthy relationship with media before they grow to be teens and young adults. Here are some practical tips from the AAP Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental Health. Use them to help your kids build balance, critical thinking, self-regulation and safety skills around digital media—starting during the toddler years and all the way through elementary school.