Computers, game consoles and other digital gadgets — we do not hesitate to buy them for our children, even for the smallest ones. But at what age is the most advanced processor in the world, the brain of a child, ready to master the virtual world?
Parents’ priorities are changing: children are increasingly receiving not dolls and cars as gifts, but electronic toys and CDs with educational programs. Now two-three-year-olds draw, get acquainted with colors and shapes and assemble puzzles using Umka educational computers, a Komfi prefix (keyboard) with bright buttons, and quite adult laptops. And what, in fact, is the problem if a child willingly plays and at the same time learns computer literacy? “The fact is that computer technology is designed for the adult brain,” explains psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Serge Tisseron. “A child’s brain is just being formed, he is not yet able to simultaneously learn the real and virtual worlds.” Wait for the right moment. Up to three years, the child needs to touch, smell, feel, that is, actively stimulate all five senses. Up to six years — to master a variety of actions and manipulations with objects: paint, cut, sculpt, lace, assemble a mosaic … Fine motor skills activate connections between different areas of the brain. After six years, the worst enemies for a child are boredom and doing nothing. Therefore, you need to make sure that he knows how to play and keep himself busy even when the screen is off.
Agree on a schedule. Up to seven years, video games must be dosed: no more than four times a day for 15 minutes. But be careful: some of them can last much longer. Therefore, sometimes you can allow your son or daughter to play two or three times a week, but longer than usual — half an hour a day.
Discuss every session. Imagine that your child has returned from a children’s party. Of course, you will want to know what happened there, with whom he played. It’s the same with the computer — ask him about what he did, what characters he recognized and how the new game made him feel.
“Computer programs and games designed specifically for children train their attention, memory and coordination,” says Nikolai Voronin, a child neuropsychologist. — But they do not develop either the emotional sphere or the speech of the child. Only by communicating with adults, telling them about his feelings and experiences, he learns to understand himself and be aware of the world — real and virtual.