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Talking with other children in the early years helps prepare for future academic success. The easiest and most effective way for children to learn is to talk, and studies have shown a link between the number and variety of words a child hears and later academic achievement.
According to a survey conducted by the American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) on a group of parents, a child at the average age of eight and under in the United States of America uses more than 3 personal technology devices such as a tablet computer, smart devices or video game devices at home. With younger children interacting with this technology recently, it has become important to manage the time allotted for its use, so that it does not affect the child’s activity and interaction with other children.
We offer you a set of tips for parents on how to manage children’s use of technology at their disposal:
1- Allocate specific times away from technology: There should be at least one or two opportunities during the day – at dinner, for example – for everyone to stop contacting technology. Meal times are a prime opportunity for conversation, you can get everyone to leave their devices at the kitchen door.
2- Resist over-reliance on smart devices to treat boredom: The best opportunities to talk and learn are often found in situations that are perceived as boring, such as performing daily tasks or on a long car trip, especially for younger children (0-3 years) you must resist The desire to immediately resort to these devices as a means of entertainment, despite the fact that it is tempting!
3- Make technology a group activity: While technology is often used individually, the use of technology may turn into a group activity, while playing a game on the Internet, for example, everyone can talk about what they are doing and promote participation.
4- Think about whether kids really need their own devices: It has become more and more natural for kids to have their own tablets, and there are things that are specifically designed for kids, so that the child spends more time alone with technology during the day. On the other hand, devices made for children often offer additional features that appeal to parents, such as limited (kid-friendly) content and additional security options.
5- Set daily time limits: You can always turn off smart devices and the Internet at a specific time, but it is better to make the child aware of the allowed time limit, and work to monitor and control himself.
6- Commit to applying the standards set by the family for the use of technology: A survey conducted by the American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) indicated that the majority of parents set limits for their children’s use of smart devices and technology in general, but they often do not correspond to the actual use of those devices, noting that commitment often weakens at the age of Seven or eight though the rules.

Most of the youngsters spend their summer vacation between watching TV, electronic games and staying up late at night! But so that this vacation does not turn into a waste of time, it can be invested in other ways that advance the skills of the little one, and be fun and entertaining at the same time.

Here are some ideas aimed at taking advantage of the children’s free time on vacation, in a way that is beneficial and fun for them:
1- Reading
“The book is the best companion” is a true saying that urges the mother to choose a variety of books, including purposeful stories, puzzles, or special magazines according to the interests of her young child, while accompanying him to visit nearby public libraries and take advantage of the number of books in them.
Of course, the appropriate times for reading vary, but in general, it is preferable to do it before bed, as it relaxes and prepares for a peaceful sleep. It is worth using the vacation time to read and recite the Noble Qur’an, even for a short period of time not exceeding ten minutes before or after the prayers.
2- Social media
The family loses social contact with others during school days, and this may extend to communication through the phone! Therefore, the summer vacation is an opportunity for kinship bonding and exchanging visits with relatives and neighbors, while agreeing on a weekly date for reunification, which gives the child an opportunity to strengthen his relationships with his surroundings.
It is preferable to take him, even one day each month, to visit children in care homes, present them with gifts, or return patients, whether they are parents, acquaintances, or those in need.
3- Help with household chores
If your children are bored during vacation, you can take them to the kitchen and encourage them to prepare some simple recipes, and they can be assigned some household tasks that require a little effort, such as changing the place of some furniture or buying items for the house from outside. Despite the child’s laziness in performing these tasks, he feels his importance to the family, so do not skimp on him with words of thanks and praise.
4- Fun and entertainment
When it comes to investing vacation times that may extend for several months, this does not mean neglecting the entertainment and fun aspect, but rather inventing a way to change the daily routine of school life, where you can dispense with television for hours and replace it with group competitions among your family members in which young and old participate in rope skipping or playing ball Or racing, and to add more fun don’t forget to bring prizes to the winners. There are many entertainments outside the home, such as going to markets and entertainment centers, going out for walks or eating outside.
5 Development of the child’s faculties
Vacation is the perfect time to introduce your little one to new skills. Among the best summer programs, those offered by experts to teach computer skills or English language in specialized training centers. Hurry up to involve your children in one of these programs, after the end of the school year, because they are still affected by the practical rhythm of study and are ready to receive more knowledge. In parallel with these programs, the child can be given the opportunity to practice his favorite sport in an organized manner, join him in clubs and sports centers, or push him to practice his favorite hobby. There are schools that provide their students during the summer vacation with these programs and courses for free or at nominal prices. Traveling develops the child’s skills, during which he discovers new cities, cultures and languages…
6- Time management
Summer vacation is an opportunity for parents to help their children develop their personalities, expand their perceptions and develop their own abilities. Undoubtedly, exploiting their energies in useful activities is an imperative that should be planned before the end of the school year. Therefore, the time must be organized between different activities. It is not correct for the child to go to the club in the morning, computer or languages ​​course, or memorize the Qur’an in the afternoon, and visit family and friends in the evening, as it is sufficient for the child to engage in one or two activities at most, during the day. Parents should prepare daily, weekly and monthly plans in which they determine the activities that can be provided for the child, bearing in mind that the youngster gets bored quickly, so the latter must be diversified in order to satisfy his desires.

Websites and some apps are filled with misleading and immoral content, which contains violent and pornographic material, advertisements, hate and deception.. Unlike adults, young children absorb everything they are exposed to without knowing how to resist temptations and bad and negative directions.
All of this makes the Internet a completely unsafe platform for children, and therefore parents bear a great responsibility in educating them and protecting them from its dangers. Here are some tips and ways that can help parents in their concern..
1- Set clear rules:
These rules include everything related to the use of the Internet, whether on computers, mobile phones or tablets, so that the child knows that the use of the Internet is subject to the rules of the family in general.
2- Pay attention to the psychological state of the child:
If the child is exposed to inappropriate content while browsing the Internet, this is expected to have a negative psychological impact on him, and any emotional, behavioral or even psychological change can be distinguished by the parents, and deal with it quickly..
3- Stay away from solitude:
The best thing that keeps the child away from the dangers of the Internet is to encourage him to be social, which gives him self-confidence, and becomes stronger in resisting manipulation and deception, and he will be able to better express any abusive situation he encounters through the Internet.
4- Use of content blocking and parental control programs and applications:
There are many help programs and applications that block a large percentage of immoral and unsuitable content for children, in addition to tools available on popular sites such as YouTube kids and tools in the Google search engine that make it suitable for children.
5- Putting the devices in a visible place in front of the family:
It is better to put the family’s computer in the living room, and to refrain from using tablets and smartphones in private or closed rooms, as the child’s curiosity and desire to discover may take him away when using the Internet.
6- Talking to the child and making him aware of the Internet:
The Internet is a very wide world and it needs to explain and clarify to the child about its benefits and how to use it correctly, what are the appropriate applications for him as a child and what should be avoided.

As the child grows, he becomes clearer and more expressive of his desire to play, which prompts the parents to start providing simple games, but with the sensory and cognitive development of the child, he becomes an urgent need for someone to share the play with and exchange fun and entertainment, and keep him away from boredom and repetition..
What distinguishes group play from individual children?
Group play provides the child with better fun, and has a spirit of competition and skill, feeling that he is better than his partner in play.
Group play provides the child with the beginning of the art of communication and communication with others, and this in itself is considered the beginning of his social activity with others.
Group play avoids the child falling into the clutches of boredom, so that he and his playing partner become more loving and enjoying the games in his hands.
Group play provides children with the acquisition and exchange of skills. Each child can have his own way of dealing with games, and here there is an opportunity to exchange and transfer skills between children involved in playing.
Group play for children establishes the beginning of a team spirit. In the case of building a pyramid of cubes or a house of sticky cubes, both children or a group of children will feel that they complement each other in completing this pyramid or that house, and they will have a feeling of cooperation.
Group play provides a climate for building small and innocent friendships between children, giving them a good start for building friendships in the future.
In terms of the mental aspect, group play activates the mental and mental queen and provides a start for creativity, thinking and using mental ability logically better than individual play. It is also considered one of the mental sports necessary for the child to occupy and activate the nervous system in the brain cells.

With the Internet entering all the details of life and overcrowding with content directed to children, with its availability almost always, and the ease of browsing through smart devices, how can we as educators take advantage of Internet content to enhance the learning of the Arabic language for our children?! Here are some ideas from the Karaza channel..
1- Applications: Smart and tablet applications are the latest method of interacting and learning through the Internet, and despite the difficulty of finding good Arabic content for children through applications, many Arab developers are recently interested in the field of children’s education.
2- Internet sites: There are many Arab sites launched during the past few years that provide useful educational content for children in the Arabic language, whether entertaining or interactive materials, or exciting information and scientific experiments.. All of this pushes the child to love exploration and learning using the Arabic language.
3- Educational songs: Many channels on various online platforms offer educational and entertaining songs for children, and for free, the song is able to better communicate information to the child, in addition to his endearment in the Arabic language.
4- Animations: Most of the animations are currently available on the Internet, especially YouTube, whether dubbed or produced by Arab companies, so that parents can choose Arabic-speaking animations that are appropriate for the child’s age, making sure that they contain useful, valuable and ethical content.
5- Stories and tales: Some websites and applications specialize in children’s stories and bedtime stories. A child who is able to read can spell the words of stories and learn from them, and interactively available on several websites so far.