Skip the Screens Challenge Week #2 Kit

Boost your child’s development with this 2-for-1 screen-free side effect (you’ll need it as you start your fast this week!)

Hello NeuroMama!

Welcome to your child’s first official day without screens! In all your amazing work preparing for this big day, it would be easy to lose sight of one important fact, though... 

A screen-fast isn’t just about taking out screens…

It’s also about what you’re putting back in that makes a big impact, too.

The other week in church, I noticed a young man sitting on the bleacher stairs. He was holding a long plastic tube about a yard long, and it had a red grip fitted to one end that looked like it had come from a bicycle handlebar. And on the more narrow end of the tube was a pen.

While he may not have had the fine motor skills to sit and draw with the typical ballpoint pen, he could use his whole arm to navigate the pen around the page from a distance using his larger muscles instead.

Which he contentedly did through the whole service, making delightful swirls of ink on his notebook, while his caregiver was able to listen to the sermon while keeping a smiling eye on her charge. 

Maybe what was most remarkable, though, was that this boy didn’t have an iPad superglued to his hands and eyeballs.

Screen-free activities will look a little bit different for every neurodivergent child, and that’s ok. 

What’s important is getting creative and finding at least a few things your child can enjoy that don’t include the allure of a glowing screen and buttons to push. 

Before I got trained as a Registered Behavior Tech and started doing ABA with my child, I never knew that the ability to engage in leisure activities is actually a skill. And for many of our NeuroKids, it’s a skill that needs to be intentionally taught. 💡

The good news is, it’s an area that they can grow in.

But here’s the really cool thing…

Every screen-free activity your kids engage in helps to develop new developmental skills in your child. 

Think about it. 

• When coloring an outline of a Minecraft wolf or folding origami, they’re developing their fine motor skills. 

• When pumping their arms and legs on the swings or building a fort, they’re growing their gross motor coordination and muscle strength. 

• When playing with dolls or having a tea party, they’re practicing social skills and emotional regulation.

Those are all crucial opportunities for development that would have been lost if they were replaced by screens. 

In fact, according to the Rest Your Child’s Brain book, screen-time hasn’t been shown to give anything of value back to our kids. 

Instead, it only steals their time, attention, and developmental window to acquire new skills vital to their present and future success.

So, this week, as you start your screen-fast, let’s help our kids engage in activities that give back.