Fit and Well Idaho: Healthy amounts of screen time

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — As schools across the state are releasing for the Christmas holiday, kids will be on vacation until the New Year.

For this week’s Fit and Well Idaho Report we look at how much screen time is healthy for children.

Over the upcoming vacation, it can be easy to let your kids spend time playing video games or watching TV or movies.

But, the healthy guidelines say to not spend more than 2 hours a day in front of a screen.

She says there are exceptions, such as if they are doing a math of reading game.

She says parents need to model this behavior for their children as well.

“Its not necessarily that all media time is bad, it’s just that you know if you are staring at an electronic device all day every day, it’s not good for your eye health, if you are sitting on the couch all day playing video games you aren’t getting the exercise that you need, and so it’s not necessarily that its the electronic devices that are evil, we just get trapped into these cycles,” said nurse practitioner Patricia Conner.

She says to try to set realistic expectations within the family ahead of the vacation.

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