New campaign: Screen-free until three

What happens? At the U5, i.e. at around six months, parents receive a sticker in their yellow booklet that states the following three things:

• I endeavour to keep my child occupied without screen media.

• Meals are enjoyed without the use of screen media.

• I try to avoid screen media in the background.

These messages and how important it is for the healthy development of babies and toddlers that these rules are followed to some extent are of course also explained to parents.

Of course, such campaigns always harbour the risk of coming across as too much of a finger wagging. It's not about making parents feel guilty. The exciting thing about this week was that most parents felt a bit offended when the topic was raised. They realised that things at home might not be as precise as they are in the guidelines.

So at this point: all-clear. It's not about doing everything perfectly. But we should set ourselves the goal of orienting ourselves towards it. Because we paediatricians can see that the trend here is going in the completely wrong direction. And it is simply our job to point out that it is incredibly important for us as a society to rethink things a little.

Of course, it's incredibly difficult for parents. Because if it feels like everyone around you is doing it this way, i.e. using screen media, then it's much harder for you to do it differently.

That made me think of my father, who used to tell me as a teenager: "Just because everyone is jumping into the Rems doesn't mean you have to do it too". And that's exactly how it is with this topic.

Just because it currently seems as if mobile phones should be everywhere and because everyone is using them in the presence of children doesn't make it right and good.

That's all the advice we want to give you: Take care. Be careful with yourself and your baby. Because this trend is not a good one. And it's incredibly important for children to grow up that we make sure they don't consume media too early. Above all, that media is not used too early to achieve things that can also be achieved through normal human interaction with babies.

Our conclusion: This is a great campaign. Our appeal: Don't feel offended, but think about it. There is also a website for the campaign: www.bildschirmfrei-bis-3.de. Why don't you take a look?