'iPad' parents trick their daughter into choosing books over screen time with a clever method

Minimal screentime is the need of the hour for children today. There is a growing concern about kids spending excessive amounts of time on screens while abandoning their present lifestyles and fundamental activities like reading and playing. Noting this, a couple has taken measures to encourage their daughter to choose books over the screen with a clever phone hack that is already proving fruitful. Mom, Aliyah Norales, who goes by @thealiyahnorales on TikTok, posted a viral clip of her and her husband reading books around their baby to influence the same but there’s a catch. 

Norales captured her husband engrossed in a baby book until he cheekily glanced at her to reveal his phone hiding behind it. Similarly, the mom, sitting on a cozy armchair, showed how she has been hiding her phone behind a book to conceal it from their baby. “iPad kids trying to raise a baby without a screen addiction,” an overlay note on the video teased. The parenting trick turned out right, as the video cut to a scene where the baby girl is seen among a scatter of books. She picks up one big book compared to her tiny self and tries to read it. Mission accomplished. In the caption, the parents quipped about their cheeky phone trick. “She’s probably like, ‘Wow, my parents really love reading.’ We are not anti-screen time, but definitely low screen time,” they wrote.

Explaining the impact of their “little hack”,  the caption added, “She loves books already, so it’s working.” The post received 335,000 hearts and hundreds of comments about the parents' clever tactic. Several fellow parents were inspired, while a few had additional queries on the parenting hack’s usefulness. @kittystyle101 wrote, “That’s such a good idea because my baby’s already clocking me on my phone so much.” While @kmused, “Can’t believe we’re the new generation of parents.” “Yess! They absorb everything you model for them. I love this level of commitment,” cheered @amy_lauren02 and @passionfruitflower noted, “Brilliant. Because I hate that she sees us on our phones.” 

However, a fair share of parents could not relate to the phone hack. “No, because my son would be demanding I read that book to him? Your kids just let you read? Haha,” said @carolineyaun15 while @kelbelboo97 asked, “How do you all watch TV? I’m wondering because I’m trying to keep my baby away from screens, but I also enjoy watching my show.” According to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, screen addiction cannot be defined by a set number of hours, but youngsters are showing signs of it with their excessive screen time.

A 2016 Common Sense Media survey showed that half of teenagers felt addicted to their mobile devices, while the other three-quarters felt compelled to respond to texts, social media posts, and other notifications immediately, per the source. The study revealed that teens picked up their phones to check a median of 51 times per day, with the highest frequency being 498 times. This was likely due to the natural tendency of adolescents to socialize through their devices, while the app designs also contributed to screen addiction. 

You can follow @thealiyahnorales on TikTok for more videos.