Navigating FaceTime with Your Children

What do you do regarding FaceTime with children? This is a question that I am constantly getting.

You have likely noticed how easily your kids are able to use many of the features that come on your iPhone (or other smart phone). It is because these phones are so intuitive to use; they make it so easy that even your 2 year old can figure out how to add emojis to themselves when they're talking through FaceTime. Without stressing about it, you do want to try and limit that. Of course, you want to have your parents, family and friends stay connected with your kids, but remember there are other options to maintain closeness and connectedness. While you do want to limit the amount of time your child is spending on screens, there are lots of things to do with FaceTime and other phone features.

What do I mean by this? I love the idea of audio recordings of grandparents or aunts and uncles reading stories to your children. It really helps your child focus on the story and on your family member’s voice without getting distracted looking at all the different things that can come on the phone, like emojis (this picture isn’t indicative of what we do. I typically hold the phone while doing FaceTime).

If you’ve done FaceTime with your children and their friends, I would guess one of two things happens: either (1) your child wants to go around and show them everything in their home, and so does the other child. Or (2) they start playing independently, and they hear each other’s voice through the FaceTime, but they're not actually paying attention to the other child. This is something called parallel play, and it's very common in children who are 2 years old, even up to 3.5, until they start playing with each other. When I see this happening, what I prefer to do is set up a phone call instead of FaceTime, so the children can hear each other talking, but they're not getting distracted by what the other is doing while they continue playing independently.