Now almost every home has a modern gadgets and children often become familiar with smartphones before starting to walk and talk.
No special rules that would prohibit giving a smartphone or tablet into a small pen to a year, or eight ten years, so that the age at which the baby for the first time hold a finger on the screen depends only on its parents.
You can choose according to their personal preferences, listen to the views of other parents whose children are already in full play on the tablet, or rely on the features of the development of children at different ages.
Many parents vaguely realize that it is wrong to give a small child a smartphone, but the children are very persistent, and parents are inferior.
If a child is left unattended, it can end in tears, at least for the gadget and how it will affect the child's development, we can only speculate. Yet, based on the characteristics of children's developing attention, imagination and mental processes at an early age, it is possible to draw some conclusions.
Smartphone for children up to 3 years
Young parents are often amazed how quickly the still quite inexperienced children learn to handle equipment. One year old baby is able to unlock the screen and click on the different buttons, in two years, is able to stop the movie and start the game. Children under two years easily use the mouse can run cartoons and adjust the sound.
The French Academy of Sciences published a book "The Child and shields» (L'enfant et les écrans), in which the question of interaction between the child and gadgets disclosed in terms of medicine, psychology and neurology.
According to the research in this book found safe use of smartphones with 1.5 years.
Also, scientists say difference between TV and interactive devices, and recognize past safer.
The fact that the children could hardly distinguish up to two years, what is happening on the screen, and that - in the real world. What is happening on the TV screen or computer totally absorbs them, while the interactive, driven screens reduce this effect.
There is another advantage of the gadgets in front of TV - the ability to choose content.
You decide what the child is doing
Some parents decide that question in the following way: they simply give a child the old device without access to the Internet and install them on certain programs, such as educational games or something still. The child learns to handle the equipment, and if it breaks, do not mind.
If you can not give your child an old smartphone, and he occasionally plays on your home device, you can install specific applications, for example, kide Mode for Android. This application restricts features that will benefit the child.
There is another application - Famigo SandboxWhich not only protects your smartphone from access to the Internet and visit unwanted websites, but also provides reviews of the best development programs for children, rankings, etc. On e-mail every week come recommendations on content and notice how much time your child seated behind smartphone.
Against early love with a smartphone
In spite of the opinion of the French scientists, have a few things against the use of smartphones to 3 years. In 2-3 years the child has cerebral mechanisms are formed on the basis of which will occur next, more complex training.
The child learns to accept, process, integrate and store information, and use gadgets can seriously affect how it will develop its thinking. Digital technologies give rise to multi-tasking and can cause attention deficit disorderThat manifest later in life.
Besides, Gadgets bad influence on the child's imagination - an abundance of vivid images on the screen does not leave time to develop their own creative thinking that is bad for creativity.
Smartphones for primary school age
By the end of preschool age, 4-6 years, the child is formed by voluntary attention, he begins to consciously direct and hold it. By this time, it formed the visual-figurative and logical thinking, the child selects the properties and attributes of objects, compare them, collate, assess, and lays out on the shelves. The child at this time actively developing the creative imagination.
Digital technology creates a flexible and quick thinking, which is not very good effect on the brain. As a result, frequent communication with gadgets child's ability to classify information and integration are reduced, forming the surface mind, which can not penetrate deeply into any problem.
Therefore, teachers are advised to still teach a child to the book culture.
Books teach children more deeply into the subject, to focus on it, not being distracted by extraneous stimuli.
On the other hand, in our time, a child must learn to use modern technology to keep up with their peers. He was already well aware of their actions and learning to work with heterogeneous information flows on the Internet.
Smartphones at the beginning of the transitional period
Some parents prefer to buy kids smartphones closer to 12 years, when the child is old enough to take care of your device.
With regard to the mental characteristics at this time children begin to increasingly distracted, their performance drops, they They are very curious (curiosity peak in 10-12 years), but the scope of interests and hobbies is huge and enough superficial.
Smartphone gives the child the scope of information he needs, and the big question is, what exactly will relate this information - studies and useful knowledge about the world or the social networks and imposed values.
Opponents of smartphones is another fear - the development of a closed child living with the network, and not in reality, but it is very much dependent on their parents. If at an early age to give your child enough attention, not to leave him alone with the Internet, the risk of closed Nerd grow rapidly falls.
Generation of technically oriented people obliges - familiarity with the smartphone and all the flow of information, which can offer modern reality will help the child to quickly get into the world of high technology, where he will live.
Buy yourself when you can
Another approach to the problem of the child and the smartphone, it's self-purchase the gadget. Parents believe that if a child will be able to buy himself a mobile device, it is certainly sufficient and responsible adult to use it.
Such an approach is also not devoid of meaning, but children and adolescents are able to persuade their parents, using different arguments, for example, "everyone is already there, and I am one without a smartphone." Usually it works.
Golden mean
The decision on smartphones and children depends on many factors: the characteristics of the individual child, the views of the parents and even the family income, but in any case, better to observe the golden mean.
Limited time with a smartphone in hand, parental control and attention to the child, because at any age, no smartphone is no substitute for parents.