One of the common discussions I have with parents who bring their children in to see me is ‘how much time do their children spend on a screen?’

Generally I can guarantee that most of these children have very few limits placed on screen time throughout the day. It varies depending on the age group also. Toddlers and pre-prep children often seem to have access to their parents’ phones, or have another designated iPad/tablet for children to use at home. School aged children commonly have access to these also, but additionally may use PlayStations, Xboxes, and their own phones and computers.

So often the issue of screen time is problematic because of the apparent ‘addiction’ that some children develop to them. These children find it incredibly difficult to stop the game they are playing, in order to go to the toilet. This is often because they fail to pay attention to their bodily signals and I often hear parents say ‘but they never seem to feel the poo/wee coming.’ It is not because their attention is so bad, but in fact because it is so good – only for the screen instead of their body signals! This is often described as the inability to ‘transition from one activity to another’.

It is important to ascertain whether the child has adequate sensation in their bowel/bladder at this stage. This can be determined by whether the child can take themselves to the toilet at any other time of the day when they’re not involved with a screen.

Often the best and only solution is to put the screens into lockdown so that the child can only use these as a reward. The results you can achieve without the screens as a distraction, but instead used as a motivator/reward, are consistently fantastic!

By Christine Shearer-Smith