How can you broach the subject of screens with parents in a playful way? Here is the proposal of the Educ’Ecrans tool, designed by a group of professionals from the Écoles des Parents et des Éducateurs and a specialist in playful mediation tools. The aim of this original tool is to support reflection and discussion among parents about the place of screens in families with young children (0 – 6 years).
Speaking freely, explaining how you do things and listening to others, finding solutions together… this is a different way of approaching a subject that can be a source of guilt and prejudice.
The initial proposal is to organise three separate sessions, always led by a facilitator: two meetings around the game board and a final meeting that favours a more informal discussion. The first round of play, through a wide variety of questions, lets parents discuss the place of screens in the family and their possible influence on children. The questions cover the players’ own practices and those they witness (friends, grandparents, childminders…). The second round of play invites participants to imagine together other ways of doing things in situations where they would like to change their usual behaviour. At the end of this second meeting, they are encouraged to try out at home the ideas that seem interesting to them. Feedback from these experiments is discussed at the third meeting.
Relationships, uses, authority, health, routines, learning, autonomy and a group of surprise questions are the different themes covered. In the first stage of the game, questions such as: “What is the greatest pleasure your child feels in front of screens?”, “Have the TV or smartphone been comfort objects for your child since they were very small? “, “Imagine a 1-year-old in their bouncer in front of the TV. What are they thinking? ” will be asked. The second stage of the game explores possible courses of action with prompts such as: ” Imagine. You are watching your favourite programme and your child wants to play with you. How do you handle the situation?”, “Giving your child a screen for a long car journey? A good or a bad idea? Explain.”
One of the advantages of this tool is the possibility of dealing with subjects that are not usually discussed.
The facilitator is fairly free to adapt the game and its different stages according to the number and length of the sessions available with their group.
The game also includes a bibliography and a list of websites that are useful to the facilitator as well as to parents who want to take their thinking on the subject further.
Where can you get it?
FNEPE
http://www.ecoledesparents.org/mediatheque/archives/support
VALOREMIS
https://editions-valoremis.com/home/59-l-educ-ecrans-jeu-de-plateau.html
At what price? €70
