Long Holidays, Psychologists Suggest Short Educational Shows for Children

JAKARTA - Long holidays often make parents look for fun and safe activities for children. In the midst of increasing use of gadgets during holidays, choosing short-term educational entertainment can be one alternative to fill time with children without adding excessive screen exposure.

"Technology is now part of children's lives. The important thing is not to keep them away, but to accompany them to use it in a healthy and meaningful way," said child psychologist Grace E. Sameve, M.A, M.Psi, as quoted by ANTARA.

A number of international institutions, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Academy of Pediatrics, recommend that children aged 2 to 5 years have no more than about an hour of screen time per day. In fact, the shorter the duration, the better it is for children's growth and development.

In this context, educational content with a short duration that is safe and entertaining can be an option for families to enjoy holidays with children with quality content.

Grace assessed that the short content format that is full of messages is now more relevant, especially for young families. This is because, during the holidays, children tend to have more free time and exposure to gadgets also increases.

Based on data quoted by About Children, almost 40 percent of Indonesian children aged 2-5 years spend more than two hours per day in front of the screen, far exceeding the WHO and AAP recommendations.

In this condition, short viewing formats such as character animations are considered to help parents still provide screen time in small portions, more controlled, and do not shift other important activities such as physical play or direct interaction.

Each episode of the character-based animation is generally designed with a focus on one character value so that the message conveyed is easier to understand and does not overwhelm children due to a storyline that is too long or complex.

Not only in the form of animated images, this series is also equipped with a children's story book in a bilingual English-Indonesian format. The book helps children remember the stories they watched and also serves as a means of discussion with parents.

This approach is expected not only to make children watch passively, but also to encourage them to practice positive character values in daily life, while reducing the duration of screen time and turning it into quality time reading with parents.