With a quarantine imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, many parents are struggling to keep kids occupied enough at home to find any time to themselves. For better or worse, digital screens – be they phones, tablets, computers, or TVs – offer an all-too-alluring solution. But how much is too much? At 5 Little Monkeys, our mission is to help families everywhere experience the power of healthy, restful sleep through our world-class children's bed, but today we'd like to offer a few thoughts on sleep and screen time during the COVID-19 crisis.

Managing Kids Screen Time During Coronavirus

First, it's important to acknowledge that we're living in unprecedented times. Never before in the modern age have we had an imposed quarantine like the one we're living in, so it's understandable if your child is spending more time in front of a screen than normal. Even so, we all want to do what's best for our kids – so here are some tips on how to manage screen time during lockdown:

• Choose Educational Programming: Most parents would guess this already, but education-focused content is more beneficial for kids. High-quality educational programs for kids will usually gear the pacing and story of the program to what's developmentally appropriate, and programs can help kids learn things like words and numbers. If your child will be in front of a screen, it's always best to make it educational.
• Balance It Out: Another key approach is to strike a balance between screen time and other activities. Kids' brains learn best through one-on-one interaction with parents, and particularly through "serve-and-return" interactions with their parents – so try to mix in an ample amount of serve-and-return interactions after limited bouts of screen time.
• Watch Your Own Screen Time: Finally, remember that it's important to mind your own screen time as well as your child's. Children learn most from what their parents do, so make sure you're modeling healthy screen habits for your child to follow. It's easy to get sucked into your Instagram feed for much longer than you realize, so take care to limit your own screen time and it'll be easier to do the same for your child.

Order Our Children's Mattress Online Today

Screen time during quarantine is an enormous parenting challenge, and we hope these tips make it a little easier. But if you're looking for a way to make the whole quarantine experience better for your kids, it might be time to look for a new mattress. The 5 Little Monkeys Bed is specifically designed to support the unique needs of a child's growing body and foster truly restful, healthy sleep, and with our 100-Night Rest Test, you can try it risk-free for the first 100 nights. See the difference that high-quality sleep can make for your child: order our children's mattress today!