Screen Time Education

Educating staff and parents helps them work together to reduce children's screen time.

Training staff on screen time reduction strategies and healthy alternatives to screen time can enhance program quality. It will help staff be able to implement practices that support children's health. Parents of preschoolers should also be be engaged with screen time reduction and/or media literature education so that they can reinforce healthy habits at home. Below are some resources that can help you educate your staff and parents about screen time and their child.

Best practices

The resources on this page can help child care programs reach all of the following best practices:

"Offer parents screen-time reduction and/or media literacy information (such as, special programs, newsletters, or information sheets) 2 or more times per year."
"Offer training opportunities to providers on screen-time reduction and/or media literacy 2 or more times per year."

Resources to educate staff and parents regarding screen time:

Action Guide: For Child Care Nutrition and Physical Activity Policies

Summary: A guide for creating policies including rationale, steps for creating policies, and policy recommendations.
Source: Connecticut State Department of Education
Access: https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/sde/nutrition/cacfp/ccpolicy/child_care_action_guide.pdf

Go Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care (Go NAPSACC) Bilingual Self-Assessments

Summary: Contacting a consultant and completing the online version of the Go NAPSACC assessments opens up a suite of planning, learning, and implementation tools to understand further what the health best practices are and how to reach them at your child care.
Source: Go Nutritional and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care (Go NAPSACC)
Access: https://gonapsacc.org/our-focus-areas

Healthy Kids, Healthy Future

Summary: This part of the website, under the Reduce Screen Time section, includes facts about and tips for reducing screen time. Find activities for children and resources for adults, including handouts, trainings, alternative sleep strategies, and guidance on appropriate use of technology.
Source: The Nemours Foundation
Access: https://healthykidshealthyfuture.org/5-healthy-goals/reduce-screen-time/

Media and Children

Summary: This website includes information about media time and how it impacts children. It also has parent resources, such as “Beyond Screen Time: A Parent’s Guide to Media Use” and “Family Media Plan.”
Source: The American Academy of Pediatrics
Access: https://www.aap.org/en/patient-care/media-and-children/

Nutrition and Wellness Tips for Young Children

Summary: Collection of tip sheets for nutrition and physical activity. Each tip sheet focuses on a specific topic and includes a practical application section to help apply the tips to a child care program for children ages 2 through 5 years old. See pages 63-71.
Source: United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service
Access: https://www.yoursforchildren.com/nutrition-resources/TeamNutrition/Nutrition%20&%20Wellness%20Tips%20for%20Young%20Children%20--%20English.pdf

Policy Brief on Early Learning and Use of Technology

Summary: This is a policy brief about the early learning and use of technology with specific reasons and policies around the use of different types of technology and the use of them in early learning.
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Access: https://acf.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ecd/policy_brief_final3.pdf

Screen Time Reduction Toolkit for Child Care Providers

Summary: Includes tips to reduce screen time, letter to parents, tips to reduce screen time, games to reduce screen time. Policy Examples are provided on page 8.
Source: Michigan Department of Community Health
Access: https://d3knp61p33sjvn.cloudfront.net/2015/04/Screen-TimeReductionToolkit.pdf