From screen time to skill time balancing online co curricular activities for kids

In the past few years, there has been a complete lifestyle transformation for everyone, but the statement rings much truer for children. With the extensive usage of these online offerings, balancing screen time has become a topic of concern for many parents. As everyone wants, there should be a balanced schedule between both things so that it does not affect the child's mental and physical health. During this era of modern technology, keeping children away from these digital and virtual opportunities has become challenging. Still, it is important to stress that a flexible approach is crucial during these bizarre times.

But the main aim is to balance time spent on and off the screen. There is an urgent need to tell the children about the importance of outdoor skills too. Outdoor games and activities are equally important for building a child's mental and physical personality. So, both on-screen and off-screen things are equally arranged in a child's schedule.

 

 

The Challenges of Screen Time: There are a few challenges that are faced by children during screen time and of which parents should be aware:

 

1. Trouble Sleeping: The more time children spend on screens, the more they create risks for their sleep. There should be proper screen time management for kids so that they can maintain a balance between on-screen and off-screen skills. Most children spoil their sleeping schedule because of online co-curricular activities and become tired all day.

 

2. Mood Changes: Many parents are worried about their children's random mood swings. Children should follow a healthy schedule to improve their mental health because these sudden mood swings significantly affect them. Still, children are unaware that spending more time on these online organisations is affecting their mental health at a rising level. Nowadays, parents are getting more concerned about this because of these sudden mood swings children are getting frustrated and irritated very quickly, which is not a good sign for their future development.

 

3. Altering Your Brain: Parents are very concerned about the proper balance between on-screen and off-screen schedules for their children. So, for that, parents should know about digital parenting tips, as with these, you can set limits for your child's digital usage. Secondly, make your child realise the importance of face-to-face communication. As in altering your brain, the child is suffering from a change in his mental function, which will greatly help. Following are a few statistics to show the significant increase in screen time among kids.

 

According to the latest available data, the average person spends 6 hours and 58 minutes per day on screens connected to the internet. That is a 1% (4 minutes) increase over 2021's figure, equating to 5 billion+ days when extrapolated across all global internet users.

Nearly all children went online in 2021 (99%); the majority used a mobile phone (72%) or tablet (69%) to do so. More than a third (36%) of primary school-age children only sometimes had access to an adequate device for online learning at home, compared to 17% of secondary-age children.

 

Parents should remember that online extracurricular activities are essential, but kids should have limited screen time management. Also, you should help your child understand the difference between online and offline activities so that he can understand the importance of both. Using an online platform to learn something new is okay.

But there should be some boundaries for everything, and you should teach your child about online stuff so that they should not cross that boundary and can maintain a balance between the two in their schedule.

 

 

 

THE BENEFITS OF CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES: There are several benefits to co-curricular activities, both online and offline. Some of them are:

 

1)Improved Academic Performance: These extracurricular activities help a lot in improving the academic performance of a child. Because as we all know, apart from studies, a child needs to get involved in such activities to improve their mental health. It would be best if you also created a schedule for co-curricular activities so that the children can follow it and their studies do not get messed up. Because of these extracurricular activities, whether they are offline or online, help a lot to improve the mental health of your kid because they can focus more on their studies and academics. But both things should be included in their schedule. 

 

Extracurricular activities provide a channel for reinforcing the lessons learned in the classroom, allowing students to apply academic skills in a real-world context. They are thus considered part of a well-rounded education. Typically, co-curricular activities are carried out outside the regular classrooms, but they supplement the academic curriculum.

 

2) Higher Self-Esteem: These extracurricular activities will help boost your child's self-esteem. As these activities also do a job of improving the personality development of children, maintaining higher self-esteem is also a part of that only. By keeping higher self-esteem, children can observe the reality of life more practically, and there are many activities available through which your child can learn a lot about this. But extracurricular activities are an excellent way for kids to focus on their strengths and passions instead. These activities can build up a child's confidence. They can help kids improve their social skills, develop their interests, and inspire them to try new things. Students also get improved fitness and create a variety of beneficial attributes as a result of co-curricular activities. This teaches kids to trust the team while also increasing their self-confidence. A self-assured child is better prepared to face real-life obstacles in their path.

 

3) Explore Interests and Create Broader Perspectives: At this point, children are not sure about their interests and skills, so parents should guide them appropriately through these extracurricular activities and help them explore their interests so that the children can look for broader perspectives and be able to make a career in something of their interest. Children can explore a different world according to their interests by studying their interests, whether in online activities or outdoor games. They can create a broader perspective according to their interests, which will help a lot in making their future bright. Also, parents should explain the importance of skill development in their children's lives in full detail so that they can find out their skills at an early age and step forward to make their career and future in those areas.

 

Parents should encourage their children and the development of their skills by providing them with the best mentors and courses. A few illustrations would help to support the above statement and would make you believe that these extracurricular activities do help a lot.  Following are examples:

 

1) Walt Disney began drawing in high school. After dropping out at the age of 16 to join the army, Disney was rejected for being underage and joined the Red Cross instead. He was sent to France, where he became an ambulance driver. After returning to America, he became a newspaper artist and eventually one of the most influential animators the world has ever seen.

 

2) During his time at Harvard, Mark Zuckerberg locked himself in his dorm room to find the world's most popular social networking site—Facebook. Zuckerberg left Harvard once the site exploded in popularity and relocated to Palo Alto. He is now the youngest billionaire in the world, with an estimated net worth of $4 billion.

 

 

STRATEGIES FOR BALANCING ONLINE ACTIVITIES:

 

1) Reduce Screen Time for Kids: There should be a proper time limit for the kids within which they will be able to learn their extracurricular courses online. Because the more time they spend on the screen, the more they get irritated and frustrated. So, you should set up a proper schedule for your kids so that their screen time is also on the limit and they can pay attention to offline extracurricular activities too. This digital technology can negatively affect children's developing social skills, relationships, health, and overall ability to focus. Developing their social skills This can lead to more children being socially awkward, withdrawn, shy, or intimidated by social situations. So, it is necessary to control screen time for kids because their physical health is also equally important.

 

2) Make a balanced schedule: Parents are concerned a lot about the physical and mental health of their child or kid and want to see their kid perfectly fit and fine. So, for that, you should create a balanced and proper schedule for your children in which both things are included equally, and because of a proper routine, nothing will get mixed up with one another, and the children will be able to enjoy the benefits of both things. Numerous online extracurricular activities are available for the betterment of your child, but it is not possible to allow them the whole time for these activities as it will affect their mental and physical health on a severe basis. So, there should be a proper schedule for them, as it will help them manage their precious time for all things.

 

3)Setting Boundaries for Kids Screen Time: Boundaries are important in these online extracurricular activities because, at this age, children are not very aware of digital technology, and if there is no proper guidance, this can lead to a big misleading too. So, you should set up some boundaries with your kids while providing these online facilities so that their mental function does not get affected.

 

There are a few suggestions that you can follow to create a schedule that includes both online and offline activities. And overall, it will give you a balanced schedule for your kid.

 

1) Set aside some time regularly to do something offline, like reading a book, doing some physical exercise, being outdoors in nature, or doing meditation to relax your mind.

 

2) Make time in your day to eat healthily and get good sleep.

 

3) Then, allow your kid to spend some time in the classes of these extracurricular activities so that he can learn something new here.

 

4) Put some rules and boundaries in place while providing your kid with these online opportunities so that it does not affect the mental function of your kid and both online and offline do not get mixed up together.

 

After this, tell your kid to spend some time outside and tell them about the various types of outdoor activities and their importance in building their mental and physical health.

 

6) After having such a hectic day, allow your child to sleep peacefully by doing some meditation to clear all the thoughts that are running through his mind, and he can have a peaceful sleep.

 

 

 

ENCOURAGING A HEALTHY ROUTINE: A healthy and proper routine is a must in your kid's schedule, and this can only be possible when both the things that are on-screen and off-screen are arranged properly in your kid's schedule. As we all know, we provide children with these online opportunities so that they can find their common interests and explore the field, but not only these online organizations are helping in this. There are still many outdoor games in which children can make their careers, but the only thing that they must follow is to keep everything balanced.

 

You should also make your children aware of the importance of unstructured playtime, as it allows them the freedom to explore, create, and discover without predetermined rules and guidelines. In making a healthy routine for your kids, you should also include the importance of physical exercise in their lives. Physical exercise is the only source that can help boost their energy level and maintain their mental health during this hectic schedule. Secondly, by doing such physical exercises, it will also help your child stay fit and healthy for a long time. Family time should also be included in this routine because, by spending so much time on online stuff and by playing games outside, there should be some time in their schedule for their family so that they can share all the things with their parents.

 

And by doing so, parents can also check on their children to see if things are going right or not. A proper or adequate amount of rest time should also be included in the routine so that the children do not get tired and can pay attention to both things properly. A proper amount of rest is a must in this whole routine because it helps improve brain performance. So the child will be able to focus on both things equally without getting irritated or frustrated. Secondly, it also helps to maintain proper health and a good mood in the children because sleep plays a vital role in their lives, so a proper or adequate amount of it should be part of their routine or schedule.

 

 

Conclusion: 

 

So, now let us conclude this blog, which is that both on-screen and off-screen skills are totally important for the proper development of your child's physical and mental health. The only thing that should be kept in mind is that there should be proper screen time management and some boundaries for children's screen time. Time management should also be taught to the children so that both online and offline things are managed properly in their schedule or routine. Should also tell the children about the importance of outdoor games and activities in their lives and personality development, like the online one. And, at last, the only thing that should be kept in the minds of parents is that they should also get equally involved in these on-screen and off-screen activities with their children so that they can view their progress easily, guide them, and tell them the importance of following this balanced schedule.

 

 

Talent Gum is the best site to visit for on-screen interests for your child, as it will provide all the classes online with the best mentors and a suitable learning environment. You can also share your experiences or leave your comments about these online classes and teachers provided by Talent Gum. Although Talent Gum is a team of passionate individuals with a common interest in improving the standard and quality of learning for children by making it a fun and enjoyable experience for them, the main aim of Talent Gum is to empower and ensure that their learners are allowed to engage with their passions from a very early age, can build their careers according to their interests, and can also grow into motivated and well-rounded adults.