Tag Archives: advice

The Smart Box: Introducing Healthy TV Watching Habits To Our Kids

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When we consider the ways of keeping our kids healthy, it’s not just about the obvious things like eating right and exercising but it’s about encouraging healthy habits in life. We can look back and realize that we made certain mistakes or instilled unhealthy habits because we do them ourselves. A very good example is television. The latest Infinity Dish statistics show how television plays a role in almost everyone’s life. Perhaps there were a few times when you needed a break so you put your children in front of the television but this has now spiraled out of control and now you’ve got couch potatoes for kids! But when we look at the idea of watching television there are ways for us to encourage some healthy habits. 

Being Aware Of Questionable YouTube Content

It’s something that we think is pretty harmless, especially for toddlers. When we put on a kids YouTube channel that plays nursery rhymes we may not realize that there is a lot of unhealthy and questionable content out there that individuals are trying to sneak into the videos. We should monitor our children’s living habits but we should also think about the streaming services we use. If you have a Firestick it’s so easy to install apps that have various questionable shows and cedars. A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is something that might help and if you’re wondering why would you use a VPN for Firestick it is a good way to keep yourself anonymous so you’re not easily targeted with specific content. Using a VPN can also be useful when travelling abroad, as some of your child’s favourite shows may be blocked by the local internet. For this reason, if you’re traveling to a foreign country like China, make sure to have a reliable service like ExpressVPN China at hand to ensure a fast and secure connection without encountering any common restrictions. Whether you are at home or abroad, once we get into certain viewing habits the algorithm kicks in and so we are suggested more and more questionable content, so having a degree of privacy can be important.

Turn The Television Off

It sounds obvious, but the television becomes a background to our lives. Turning the television off when visitors come by, eating meals, or doing other tasks means that you don’t rely on the television to become a babysitter of sorts. Our children can easily become distracted by what is on television and when our children are young, this is the perfect opportunity to make sure they don’t rely on this for the rest of their lives. This can mean a lot of harsh lessons for ourselves when we are used to watching television. But when you live by the rules yourself it’s far easier to enforce them. It’s a good idea to impose certain time limits. For example, if your children have started school, two hours should be the maximum. And when you start to schedule their day after school it gives you an opportunity to incorporate other important skills. 

Choosing Educational Content

This is such a difficult topic to get our heads around. It’s easier when your children are preschoolers because there’s a lot of shows out there about counting and giving your children certain nuggets of knowledge. But as your children get older it can be harder to monitor this. Not allowing your children to plan their own weekly viewing schedule can seem a little bit on the harsh side but when you allow a certain time limit consider incorporating things that you think are educational into their TV watching time.

Television can be a good thing, just as long as we approach it with the right balance.

Does My Baby Have Hearing Loss?

It can be difficult to tell if young children have hearing loss, but it’s important to know. Hearing is an essential part of social, emotional and cognitive development in young children. Even mild hearing loss can be enough to have an effect on your child’s ability to develop speech and language. Luckily, if you can catch problems early on, they can be overcome before they cause a problem. What signs should you be looking for?

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Causes of Hearing Loss

Hearing loss can be a birth defect or it can be caused later on. Hearing loss can occur in premature babies, babies born with newborn jaundice or babies with a family history of hearing loss. Some medications can cause hearing loss, as can birth complications, loud noises or infections. Hearing health is important to protect, so know the causes and try to avoid them. 

Symptoms Of Hearing Loss

All newborns should have a hearing test before they leave the hospital. If they don’t pass, then they should be tested gain within three months, in case debris or fluid in the ear caused the failure, rather than hearing loss. After these tests, there are signs to watch out for yourself, although children should continue to have hearing tests at regular intervals between the ages of 4 and 10 to learn more about their hearing. 

For newborns, note their reaction to sudden loud noises, as even newborns should jump at these. By 3 months, they should be able to recognize your voice. At 6 months, most babies will be able to turn their eyes towards the sound of a noise. By 12 months, they should be imitating sounds and starting to produce a few words, like ‘Dada’ or ‘bye’. 

For toddlers, you can look out for limited speech or difficulty learning. Your toddler might be appear to be attentive, or frequently ask for music or the television to be turned up louder. They might fail to respond in conversation, or to their name and might become easily frustrated when there is a lot of background noises. 

If you notice these signs, don’t want for child’s next hearing screen and make an appointment with your Doctor. They can refer you to a pediatric audiologist who will test their hearing to identify if there is a problem and how best to deal with it. If there is hearing loss, don’t panic. There are lots of ways to help. 

There are some surgeries and medical treatments that can help with hearing loss, but the most common solution is hearing aids. Technology in hearing aids is improving all the time, so they are now even smaller than ever, making them suitable for even very young children. They can be fitted comfortably, helping your child to hear properly, allowing them to catch up to their peers with their learning and development. 

Make sure to protect their hearing, by not exposing them to prolonged loud noises, and using earplugs and ear defenders when appropriate.

Why Your Hearing Health Is a Lot More Important Than You Might Think

Despite our hearing being an important sense for our everyday wellbeing, most people don’t get regular checkups with their audiologist compared to a general physician or even their dentist. This causes a lot of people to either overlook or underestimate the importance of their hearing health. This can cause a wide variety of problems in the future, especially if you’re not being careful with your hearing health. So in this article, we’re going to talk about why your hearing health is a lot more important than you might first think.

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Hearing affects us in more ways than you think

Many people assume that hearing is just about the sounds we perceive, and this is true to some extent. However, it’s also important to consider what hearing does for us in social situations and how it actually improves our well-being.

A good example would be the way that our bodies use our sense of sound to balance ourselves. People with hearing loss often find that it’s difficult to gain a sense of balance after getting up from a lying or sitting position. This is because hearing loss can cause issues with our vestibular system which results in a poorer sense of balance.

Another good example would be how we approach social situations. People with hearing loss will find that it’s difficult to maintain conversations in noisy areas, such as a social gathering. This can cause them to feel embarrassed when they ask someone to repeat themselves and could lead to social isolation in some cases.

As you can see, hearing loss can affect us in more ways than you might think. This isn’t a comprehensive list of everything that could happen, but it’s a good idea of what you can expect to experience if you have hearing loss.

Hearing loss is irreversible yet completely preventable in most cases

Hearing loss typically happens when you expose yourself to loud sounds for a long period of time. For example, if you work on a construction site with a lot of heavy machinery and neglect to wear hearing protection, then you’ll find that your hearing will suffer over a period of time. This is something that is completely preventable if you take the right cautionary measures and learn more about the level of noise that could cause hearing loss.

There are also conditions such as tinnitus that could have a long-term effect on your well-being. Described as a constant high-pitched whine or buzz, tinnitus is an incredibly frustrating sound to cope with and often stems from damage to the nerves in your ear. It’s for this reason that it’s commonly associated with hearing loss.

While there could be some relief from hearing loss and tinnitus, they are largely irreversible. However, these conditions are completely preventable in most cases unless your hearing loss is caused by a genetic condition. As such, it’s best that you practice preventative measures to reduce the chances that you’ll suffer from hearing loss in the future.