Those Media Moms

23/02/2024

We’re so grateful for our training at UW-Madison School of Human Ecology! Check out the link to learn more about us and our story.

15/02/2024

Finding high-quality apps for young children can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. With all of the available options, how can you determine what’s actually of value?

When you find an app you’re considering using with your child, the first step of course is to read the app description. But we recommend reading with a grain of salt. There is little to no regulation about how apps can advertise, so claims like “research-based”, “educational”, and “low-stimulating” are rarely founded in actual data.

The best way to evaluate app quality is to download the app and play it yourself before offering to your child. Look for content that is child-directed, playful, and open-ended for optimal benefits. Apps that connect the content on screen to your child’s real life experiences will also help them engage more deeply and learn from their screen experiences.

Let us know if you’d be interested in hearing our expert reviews and recommendations on apps for toddlers and preschoolers!

05/12/2023

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents use media with their kids. But what does that really look like?

Before we get into it, let’s make one thing clear: it is not a requirement to sit down with your kiddo every time they’re using a screen. Think of screen time like reading time—sometimes your kiddo looks at books alone, and that’s great! But reading has the biggest benefit when a grown-up and child do it together. It’s the same for screen time.

If your goal is to support your child’s learning from screens, being physically present is only one piece of it. Actively engaging with your child about their media experience is the key. That’s where dialogic questioning comes in!

Dialogic questioning is an educational technique that was developed for reading and has been adapted to screen media. It’s a way to help children more deeply engage in creating and understanding stories. It also helps the child connect a story to their own experience and engages them in critical thinking about both the storyline and the deeper lesson.

So what are dialogic questions? They involve interacting during screen time to ask your child about something that already happened, predicting what might happen next, relating the on-screen content to your child’s real-life experience, and asking your classic WH- (who, what, when, where, and why) questions about the story. For example, saying “Look, Daniel Tiger is going to the dentist! What was it like when you went to the dentist last week?”.

Discussion questions like this encourage parent-child interactions around screen time that help kiddos make the most of what they see. It’s tricky for little ones to transfer information from a 2D screen into their 3D world. Through dialogic questioning, you can help your kiddo identify the learning goals and extend the information into their real life.

Have you ever tried applying this approach to screen time? Try asking your child dialogic questions during (or after if you aren’t actively watching with them) screen time to transform a media experience into an interactive critical thinking activity.

05/12/2023

Want to know which holiday specials are on our nice list? We wrote a blog post all about our Holiday Guide! 🎁

Our Holiday Special Video Guide & Action Kit: Your One-Stop Shop for Holiday Magic One of the first things people think of when December rolls around is holiday movies. Who doesn’t love a cozy movie night? Picture this: a blanket fort in the living room next to a decorated tree, lit menorah, or co...

01/12/2023

🎁 High-quality holiday specials for little ones are hard to find. The majority of the options out there are too advanced or inappropriate for toddlers and preschoolers. However, there are a handful of festive flicks on Those Media Mom’s nice list!

❄️ The Snowy Day is our first feature on the list, a children’s Caldecott Medal winning literature classic adapted to a TV short. The show writers adapted the book’s winter theme into a sweet holiday story that is age-appropriate for toddlers and preschoolers.

❤️ The Snowy Day portrays a world of diversity, collaboration, kindness. Centered around Peter’s adventure preparing for Christmas, the story introduces a vibrant city community filled with individuals of various backgrounds with different holiday traditions.

🍬 As a nostalgic treat for parents, the film seamlessly integrates familiar scenes from the book. Not to mention an a ca****la performance from Boyz II Men that’ll you be singing long after the short flick ends.

❄️ Have you checked out The Snowy Day with your little ones? What’s their favorite scene?

25/11/2023

🎁 Put screen time on the nice list! ☺️

📺 We compiled TEN of our favorite expert-approved holiday specials and an action kit into one handy guide! Featuring movies and shows for the December holidays including Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and more.

✂️ What’s an action kit? For each of the 10 festive specials we selected, we also curated a matched set of family discussion questions, crafts, books, activities, and recipes to extend the holiday magic beyond the screen.

🤔 Why use an action kit? Research shows that children benefit most from media when a grown-up helps them translate what they saw on screen into the real world. That’s where our discussion questions come in! Additionally, content-related activities can help off-ramp children from screen time and transition back into play. Increase the holiday magic AND decrease screen time struggles? Sounds magical! ✨

🎁 Set yourself up for a relaxing, enriching, and memorable holiday season. Visit this link to access our Holiday Video Special Guide + Action Kit https://those-media-moms.teachable.com/p/holidayguide ! 🌲

18/11/2023

⚡️ Technoference happens when a tech device interrupts interpersonal communication. It’s never really a good thing, but can be especially detrimental when it regularly happens between parents and kids.

📵 So what are some things you could start right now to alleviate the problem? Here are our six favorite ways to reduce technoference:

1. Turn on the “do not disturb” feature on your phone that stops notifications. This allows you to check the phone on your time, rather than feeling the pull to check every time a notification goes off.

2. On the same note, reduce the overall number of alerts you receive by setting non-essential apps to no notifications.

3. Set screen-free zones in your house, like the kitchen or kids’ bedrooms. This sets expectations that while in these areas, the focus is on family time and rest.

4. Scheduling screen-free time, like two hours before bed or an hour after waking up, can also help reset expectations for tech time. This is helpful for parents and kids alike!

5. When you do need to use the phone (or other tech) around your kids, try to help them understand what you’re doing. Even a brief explanation like “I’m texting Nana to see when she wants us to come over for dinner” can help kids understand what you are up to and reduce technoference.

6. If you need to use the phone for an extended period of time, like doing research or placing an order, try to do it when away from the kids. Moving to another room or waiting until they are asleep can help avoid distraction.

❓Are there other ways you like to set limits around your own phone use for healthy boundaries? Share what works for you!

12/11/2023

Imagine, your toddler just finished watching their favorite show and you turn off the tv. They jump up to put their shoes on becuase they know it’s time for school. No whining for another episode, no tantrums because TV time is over. No tears, no yelling, no meltdowns.

Seem impossible? It might not be.

When kids have predictable routines like media rituals, it helps build emotional resilience and reduce power struggles, tantrums, and meltdowns.

Building a media ritual can help set and maintain children’s expectations around screen time. Over time, a media ritual can help kids become accustomed to the routine of what happens before, during, and after their screen time.

Does a media ritual guarantee that your kiddo will never ask for more screen time ever again? Nope. But it can help curb expectations and lay a foundation of healthy media habits that last for years to come.

Do you have a media ritual with your kids? Share what works for you!

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06/11/2023

👀 Picture this: you’re 3 weeks postpartum, and sit down on the couch to snuggle with your newborn and toddler after breakfast. Your energetic toddler is surprisngly excited to be cuddling on the couch with you because they’ve been looking forward to this special time.

👩🏻‍🍼 Your toddler’s favorite show starts up, and baby settles in for a contact nap. You and your toddler watch the show and laugh together. You ask a few questions, helping your kiddo make connections between the screen and their real world. Your tired body gets a short but much needed chance to rest, and your toddler reaps the benefits of having a parent join them for screen time.

🙌🏼 Media rituals can be a huge win-win that help older siblings transition into their new role with baby. Children thrive on predictability and rhythms. When everything else is changing, that sliver piece of low-effort time spent together learning and laughing can go a long way. And who doesn’t love some intentional, guilt-free screen time?

02/11/2023

🍃 Looking for slow-paced, playful kids shows?

🎥 Tumble Leaf’s stop-motion animation makes it an endearlingly whimsical show with a naturally slower pace. Each puppet is hand-made and moved frame by frame to create the show’s animation. An animator, on average, would shoot approximately 200 frames or 8 seconds of footage per day!

🔬 The episodes carefully integrate science lessons into playful exploration to help children process the storyline and educational content at the same time. Plus, the show uses repetition with variation to teach the educational lesson in different contexts, which makes it more likely for kiddos to remember the lesson off-screen!

🔍 Rumble leaf, tumble leaf! What’s in the finding place today?

26/10/2023

🤩 TODAY! Just got final time confirmation! Tune into GMA on ABC to see us live at 8:35 AM local time!