Raising Screen-Smart Kids

By Adil Seemab

The house was quiet. Too quiet.
Mansoor and Bazaid were on the sofa, each with a phone in hand. Their mother was in the kitchen. I was buried in university work. No one spoke. Only screens glowed.

One day, I realized something.
We had not given them phones. We had given them silence.
Screens filled that silence.

🧩 How It Happened

Parenting twins while working full time is no soft task.
I had lectures to deliver, papers to grade.
Their mother ran the home like a small factory—meals, laundry, guests, and the endless cycle of chores.

We wanted peace for a moment.
The phones gave us that. Laptops kept them busy.
It felt harmless at first.

Then, small things changed.

They stopped looking out the window.

Meals became silent.

Their laughter was different, forced, like an emoji come to life.

We blamed the screens. But the truth hurt.
We had handed them the screens.

⚖️ The Dilemma of Modern Parents

I asked myself one night:
“Is it sane to keep kids away from all modern tech?”

No. Tech is the world now.
To deny it is to deny the age they live in.
But to give it without thought is to invite addiction.

Screens are not all evil.

They teach, if guided.

They connect, if managed.

They create, if inspired.

But the greatest evil is addiction—the silent theft of a child’s curiosity.

—

🛠️ How We Fought Back

Here is how we turned the tide for Mansoor and Bazaid.

1. We Took Ownership First

We admitted we had used screens as babysitters.
No blame. Only truth.
Kids forgive when parents are honest.

2. Set Screen Hours, Not Bans

We tried a total ban for one week. It was war.
Then we tried timed windows—one hour after school, one hour after homework.
The tension melted.
Kids accept limits better than deprivation.

3. Create Screen-Free Rituals

Dinner was declared phone-free.

A short evening walk became our daily ritual.

Weekends meant family cooking—messy, loud, and real.

4. Use Screens as Tools, Not Toys

We introduced creative challenges:

Make a short video about your day

Learn a new recipe and cook it

Use Google Earth to explore the pyramids

They learned to use tech for life, not to escape it.

5. Model What You Preach

This was the hardest.
I left my phone in another room during family time.
Their mother muted WhatsApp during meals.
The twins watched us first, then followed.

🌱 The Result

One evening, Mansoor looked up from a book and said,
“Baba, it feels good to hear the fan and not the phone.”

That was my quiet victory.
Screens still live in our home. But they are guests now, not masters.

Raising screen-smart kids is not about control.
It is about connection.
We cannot fight the world our children inherit.
But we can teach them to live in it awake.

So the next time the house is quiet and screens glow, pause.
Your child is waiting for something more than Wi-Fi.
They are waiting for you!