Screen Time

As The Club has now transitioned into full summer days for our members, the question that always arises is, “What is there to do all day?” Our goal at the Boys & Girls Club of the Northern Plains is to give our members a multitude of different activities throughout the day that will help them learn and grow as responsible and caring citizens. This is why we have programs such as gardening club, where students learn how to tend to a garden and harvest what they have helped to grow. The Club also encourages physical activity through games and challenges created and supervised by our Youth Development Specialists.

One activity that all age groups spend time on in today’s age is technology. Whether it is TV, facetiming a family member, video games, or homework, it is clear in today’s world that screen time is close to inevitable. This topic, and the discussion regarding where, when, and how much technology a youth should interact with is constantly changing, but one thing most agree on is that kids should be diversifying their activities as much as possible. Elana Pearl Ben-Joseph, MD states, “When the brain is still growing and developing, it is important that youth are getting a large amount of exercise and unstructured screen-free play time either alone or with friends.”              

At the Boys and Girls Club we limit the screen usage of all our members, but we also provide them with other options ranging from a basketball game, to making slime or a cookieface competition. We all hope that our members are too busy having fun, learning, exploring, and being kids to miss the screen time.

https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/screentime-bigkids.html