16/01/2026
Ultimately, isn’t the trick really that it’s all about balance?
Children, toddlers and babies all develop their language and communication skills through the loving, responsive interactions at first from their caregivers and then later also through the interactions they have with the other adults around them and their peers. Even those shows and apps that are billed as being interactive and good for language and communication skills can’t possibly be as responsive and interactive as a real life human and so can’t really develop these essential skills.
I’m assuming the idea around the upcoming guidance is to try and make sure that children still have plenty of access to the kind of activities that do build language and communication skills - playing together, reading books, singing, going for a walk and talking about what you can see, chatting to your child while you’re in the supermarket etc.
So I’m not saying ‘absolutely no screen time’ but what I am saying is know what does develop language and communication skills and know what doesn’t and don’t confuse the two!
