From a Child Psychiatrist: Holiday Shopping Advice for Parents Buying Holiday Tech Toy Gifts for Kids

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What tech gifts will you be giving your kids this year and why?

This year more than ever, kids will be expecting technology devices as holiday or Christmas gifts.   However, at the same time, parents fear the negative impact of such presents for their children.

Dr. Eitan Schwarz, an Illinois child and adolescent psychiatrist with expertise in technology’s impact on family life, sees benefits if the devices are managed properly to provide educational growth and enhance family relationships.

Dr. S, as he is known to his young patients, says parents can actually turn this holiday season into the start of a promising new chapter in how technology works in their homes by following a few simple guidelines.

Moms and Dads can and should take a more positive and active role in your child's tech toy use by 

• Thinking of all tech devices as home appliances that will bring value to family life and child development if purchased and utilized smartly.
• Creating an individualized media plan for each child that includes both limits and the benefits of growth opportunities: better family relationships, socialization, building of values and character traits, and education enrichment.
• Making entertainment only a minor part of the media plan. Avoid any device that does not serve family- and child-centered aims or provides only entertainment, especially if it will isolate the child with the device.
• Scheduling time to participate with your child and put limits of time and place for its use (or use negotiation with older children).
• Applying your new approach gradually to all other tech devices kids use  (TV, iPods, iPads, smart phones, etc.)

Dr. Eitan Schwarz elaborates on how to create a media plan and other steps to effect a positive tech environment for your child in his new book, Kids, Parents & Technology: A Guide for Young Families.

What tech gifts will you be buying for your kids this year? Please share your choices with us as a comment, explaining why you chose what you did for your family.

FTC Disclosure:  I did not receive payment or any other compensation associated with this particular post. See complete FTC Disclosure information that appears at the bottom of MommyBlogExpert's main page and at the bottom of every individual post on this blog, including this one.

Helping Kids Avoid Tech Overuse Abuse

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Children's Overuse and Abuse of Technology

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you may already know that I write frequently about kids and technology. Most recently covering such wide ranging topics as cyber bullying and the latest kid-friendly iPhone & iPad apps.  Most recently, I posted about how to shop smart for kids tech gifts during the holidays.

Above: MBE's 18 Month-old Triplets are Attentive Computer Students

A Mom Weighs in on Kids and Technology Use

MBE partnered with Dr. Schwarz for this story, post contains affiliate links

Having just read Dr. Eitan Schwarz's book myself Kids, Parents & Technology: A Guide for Young Families (available in soft cover and Kindle) I feel a strong need to comment on how invaluable I think this title is to parents with children growing up in today's digital age.  

Dr. Schwarz gets right to the point in the preface of the book.  He says that we parents need help to manage our kids' usage of technology and we must take a more proactive role in encouraging our children to use it wisely.  

Organized into three sections: Setup & Quick Start Guide, User's Guide, and Food for Thought, this book is one that I wish had been sent home with me from the hospital after the arrivals of my triplets and their big brother, all four who are now teenagers. 

 

A moment later that same orderly kiddie computer lab overseen by their mom, turned into a three-ring Circus 

Child Psychiatrist on Solutions to Tech Overuse, Abuse

Now, without further adieu, here is Dr. Schwarz's own thoughts which I'd like to share with you. I hope you learn as much (or even more) from this than I have.

According to child and adolescent psychiatrist Eitan Schwarz, MD, "The explosive use of home computers and other technology-based consumer media -- some intended for children as young as six months old -- has parents like you concerned about the impact of computers, video games, smart phones and other interactive media on your child's development, family life, and social relationships."

"In actuality," Schwarz explains, "the topic of how to guide children to use technology wisely is a subject of widespread interest with great ramifications for the future. Younger and younger children are now in charge of how they consume media, and they are mostly consuming junk."  

"Surveys," he points out, "show that older kids currently spend over 50 hours a week on electronic devices  and this is increasing.  In fact, family interactions, imaginative play, and grades actually tend to drop when media usage increases. Further, excessive consumption can cause emotional difficulties, as well as result from existing ones.

 

Dr. Schwarz concludes, "Certainly, children need the thoughtful, active and positive guidance of their parents in this amazing Wild-West tech environment. Merely restricting access is not enough and I recommend that parents begin when your child is an infant, gradually decreasing their supervision and participation as the youngster grows older.  For every age group, there is a world of fun Internet sites and electronic games that can contribute to a child's development."

Dr. Schwarz's Six Ways to 
Aid A Child's Growth Through Tech

Eitan Schwarz, MD - Photo from My Digital Family

• Take Charge - Have confidence and take command. You can manage this important area of your kids lives because you have the home-court advantage.  Many parents too readily take a back seat and let kids take the lead.  Think about it: in what other important areas of life would you normally let that happen?

• Think of Media as Appliances - Start thinking of media as family appliances that must have positive values. Kids treat media as toys, but they are in fact adult tools with enormous power. Would you let your unsupervised young child use the telephone or oven? Only devices with proven benefits belong in children's hands.

• Remember, Technology is Healthy - From infancy onwards, teach your youngster to appreciate technology as a healthy and routine part of family life.  Starting young, children will learn that using technology is collaborative and social -- not an isolating solitary activity.

• Include the Whole Family - Create a new environment around the online family computer and other media to promote mutuality, fun, respect, and development for the entire familial group. Moving the home computer away from the wall and arranging seating all around it will make it a popular center for family life for both kids and parents.
• Make Media a Positive Learning Tool - Just as you already shop for healthy food, harvest the positive opportunities offered by media.  For every age group there are many wonderful Internet sites, apps, and downloadable software for the home computer that offer a world of learning entertainment experiences.

• Create Healthy Media Plans - Like you do meal plans, tailor media use into daily menus for each child to provide growth opportunities.  One way to do this is to regularly require enough online time on activities that actually enhance good values and education enrichment.

Kids, Parents & Technology: A Guide for Young Families, published by MyDigitalFamily.com, 228 pages, Softcover) is available on Amazon in softcover and Kindle and at booksellers nationwide.

About Eitan Schwarz, MD FAACAP DLFAPA

Recognizing the educational power of audio and visual devices, Dr. Schwarz, who is board-certified in general and child and adolescent psychiatry, conveys his messages through a series of videos: some for parents, some for children on Mydigitalfamily.org  Dr. S, as he is known to his young patients, has been a practicing psychiatrist serving families and their children for nearly 40 years.  He is a graduate of Cornell and Johns Hopkins Medical School.  He has been head of the child and adolescent psychiatric division at Evanston Hospital and is currently on the faculty of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

What ways have worked for you as a parent to help your child harness everything that the Internet, computers, and digital technology have to offer? 

MBE is an Amazon Advertising Affiliate partner and we receive a bit of compensation, at no extra cost to you, when an Amazon purchase is made through links in this post.

FTC Disclosure:  Eitan Schwarz, MD, provided the content for this guest column. Also, I received a copy of the book to facilitate review. See complete FTC Disclosure information that appears at the bottom of MommyBlogExpert's main page and at the bottom of every individual post on this blog, including this one.

iPhone & iPad Kid and Mom Apps GIVEAWAY Dr Seuss Rudolph Red-Nosed Reindeer & More from Oceanhouse Media

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FTC Disclosure: Oceanhouse Media is providing all the prizes for this giveaway being hosted on MommyBlogExpert. However, I did not receive payment or any other compensation associated with this particular post. See complete FTC Disclosure information that appears at the bottom of MommyBlogExpert's main page and at the bottom of every individual post on this blog, including this one.