Parents share their experiences of tech and wellbeing during lockdown

to my third and I think final

installment in this sort of lockdown

series focusing on technology and how

we're using it so since last week I

can't believe it's been a week

honestly time in lockdown is just the

most surreal thing it's going so fast

and so slow all at the same time and if

you remember last week I was talking

about how we were looking at reducing

screen time with Ramy by that I really

meant reducing the amount of TV he was

watching because it was mostly the TV

that was stressing him out and getting

him really angry when I would try and

turn it off so that was kind of my aim

for the week and we actually found a

really really good compromise that I

would highly recommend

so there's several Instagram accounts

like this but the one that I have been

using is called play hooray and it's run

by this amazing woman called Claire and

she I mean she does all sorts of work

generally it's all centered around play

and being imaginative and creative

within that and what she's been doing

throughout lockdown is doing Instagram

lives I think they're at 10 a.m. every

day there in the morning at some point

and their player loss so she will set up

an activity

she might read a book she's so creative

with how she reads as well like so much

better than I am with all the voices and

stuff and then she'll like make an

activity alongside that so earlier she's

reading a book about food and then she

was making play-doh chips and chips out

of cardboard and things like that it's

all very accessible stuff and it's the

kind of thing that we can actually play

along with and manage to do with like

minimal materials and resources and it's

a really good way of using technology

and using that screen time to do

something more interactive and more

productive and then once the Instagram

live is over we're kind of in that play

frame of mind and we're away from the

screens a little bit but we've still use

them for something useful so that's

something that I've just really really

been loving and I want to share with you

all

and if I'm completely honest I don't

think I really have any negatives this

week I feel like at this point we've

kind of gotten into the swing of things

we know we know what works and what

doesn't work and yeah fingers crossed I

almost

too soon that actually everything's

going pretty good at the moment so I

hope you've enjoyed these updates and I

hope that you are all having a

reasonably good unlock down as well as

it can be and I will see you all soon

bye

know where to figure no it's not been

that bad I would say not a whole lot has

changed in terms of how I've been using

technology this week I'm still doing the

same you know weekly pop quizzes with my

family over zoom which I'm really loving

just yeah taking life a bit more slow

and using the Internet to help connect

friends and family Remy on the other

hand he is too and I think before

lockdown we had quite a balanced day

like we'd usually go out to a playgroup

in the morning then we'd come home we

might do a bit of play he'd obviously

have his TV time but it was just sort of

a part of the day a part of like an

extended variety of activities which

have all kind of been taken away from us

now due to half and stay at home so not

gonna lie we have been getting the iPad

out more we have been turning the TV on

a lot more and it's been really helpful

like genuinely I decided to kind of

embrace the positives of it embrace the

fact that he is learning when he plays a

lot of these games on the iPad he is

learning when he watches TV shows even

if it doesn't seem like it he's picking

up a lot of words because he's at that

age where he's really taken everything

in so I've noticed that there's so many

new words he's picking up and it's from

these TV shows so there's definitely a

lot of positives

however because we've been enjoying our

screen time so much it's actually become

very hard to drag him away from the

screens and again I don't know if it's

an age thing but he's getting very

shouty very upset throwing a lot of

tantrums when I try and turn the TV off

even if I'm like presenting him with a

different activity which is just as fun

and exciting I think he started sort of

starting to not see him see the appeal

sorry I can't no more so he's starting

to not see the appeal in other

activities because he's living his green

so much and that's something I'm

definitely trying to work on at the

moment because it is definitely

affecting his mood and his personality

and that's not something I want I don't

want to get too used to relying on the

internet and on screens during lockdown

because that is going to be a point

where we're out

this situation and I don't want it to be

too hard to sort of transition back into

reality see yeah that's definitely

working on at the moment but generally

I'm a big fan of how a lot of kids games

have child locks on them so if he's

trying it's been a few times because he

doesn't really know what he's doing

sometimes and it's gone to a screen

where he's trying to purchase the full

game and it's like three pounds a week

but luckily a lot of them have child

locks on so it'll say things like enter

your date of birth and obviously he

doesn't even know what that means so

then he'll gives the iPad to me and I

realize he's tried to buy something and

I just swiftly stopped that so I'm a big

fan of all the child locks that are on a

lot of these things or that you can turn

on but yeah generally my goal for this

week is to cut down on screen time and

try to offer other activities keep

offering of activities and hope that we

kind of get back to a more normal way of

living as great as screens are we don't

want them all the time and that's

currently what's happening so yeah stay

tuned because next week hopefully we'll

be in a different situation fingers

crossed

about how we've been using technology so

far in lockdown like as a family and I

feel like a lot of brands and businesses

and people have really taken advantage

of technology in a good way like putting

their skills out there there's been like

live cooking demonstrations live music

concerts there's been so much content to

consume or take part in which i think is

really really cool that's been a big

positive because as a stay-at-home mum

I've kind of I'm always at home not

always but I spend a lot of time at home

and before lockdown there wasn't as much

sort of content out there as there is at

the moment which is something I'm really

enjoying and it can be a bit

overwhelming because there is so much I

would say the main thing that we

personally have taken advantage of is

the Joe Wix PE workout I just think

they're great I wish they would never

end I think the time of them is really

great because it's in the morning so you

just get up and get involved Remy is

only 2 so he's not really fully taking

part I'm not gonna lie it's mostly for

me but I think it's a really nice way to

start the day and knowing that you're

doing it every single day and that

there's like loads and loads of families

up and down the country taking part as

well it just feels like quite a nice

sort of community thing to be a part of

so that's been really positive and I

would say that are the main things so

far that we've been doing is a lot of

zoom chats and also FaceTime I suppose

just any kind of video calls basically

with family and friends which has been

really nice like really enjoyable a lot

of my family live further away so even

before lockdown we didn't really see

them often but I feel like now that

people have more time to just be at home

and chat sort of more candidly like

there doesn't have to be a reason to

video call it's like we're all at home

might as well might as well have a video

chat and it's really nice it's it just

kind of feels like spending time with

family

especially if you do it in a more

relaxed way like you know you're cooking

and you just got your phone set up I

think that's really nice and it's been

really great having like extended family

able to see Remy more often through the

phone so that's been really positive the

only downside I would say is that I know

for grandparents and just some members

of family have found it kind of

upsetting seeing Remy because he's

changed a lot in the last two months

he's gotten taller all those new words

he's saying and new things he's able to

do and I think being able to see those

things physically rather than just

hearing about them I know that that's

you know it can be a little bit

upsetting to some members of the family

but overall it's been a really positive

experience and I've really enjoyed and

yeah I'm really looking forward to

seeing how we use technology over the

next few weeks obviously we don't know

how long all of this is going to last

but there is so much to experience at

the moment I feel online so I'm really

excited to get into more of it