A pediatrician, Dr Hilda Mantebeaa Boye has asked parents to supervise the amount of time children spend on electronic devices such as mobile phones, and television among others.

According to Dr Boye, aside from the health dangers due to long hours of eye strain, they could visit certain sites that could have a negative impact on them.

“Parents need to really be mindful about this and proactive too and let whoever is providing care for the children in their absence also enforce the rules that have been set around screen time,” she advised on Tuesday.

Speaking on Prime Morning, Dr. Boye advised parents to possibly reduce the screening time of kids and rather give them safe spaces to play and also do more physical engagement.

The Pediatrics Society of Ghana member also added that parents should ensure that kids channel their energies to reading books.

“It’s important that we inculcate the habit of reading into children from an early age that is something they can do to replace the time that they would have been on the screen,” she insisted.

“Aside from that, there are indoor play such as ludo, oware, chess, and scrabble that children can do indoors and it even helps to improve their intelligence,” she said.

The Paediatrician again pleaded with the regulatory authorities to monitor certain programs that are shown on television and radio because most kids are exposed to unhealthy content and parents may not be around to supervise them.

“Sometimes even in broad daylight, you’ll see that there are two adults doing things on the television which is not safe for the consumption of children so the regulatory authorities should really monitor it”, she mentioned.

Dr. Hilda Mantebeaa further advised parents to also spend more time with their children, involve them in activities and engage them as much as possible to reduce the time they spend on the screen.

She also mentioned that parents should make their home child friendly to attract friends and loved ones to promote more child play at home.