Life without Paddington Bear wouldn’t be the same in our house right now. My two-year-old is completely obsessed…we even had a Paddington-themed birthday party. She loves watching The Adventures of Paddington. And yes, sometimes that bit of screen time is exactly what we both need at the end of a long day.
But like many parents (and educators), I find myself asking: Is this helping her development or hindering it?
The recent findings from the Children of the 2020s: home learning environment and screen time at age 2, study really made me reflect…as a parent and as an educator.
It highlights how much screen time young children are experiencing but it also reinforces something deeply important…
What matters most for young children’s development isn’t expensive resources or digital programmes…It’s human interaction.
- Talking
- Singing
- Playing
- Looking at books together
- Exploring numbers
The research does show that higher screen time is linked with lower expressive vocabulary. But it also reminds us that it’s not simply about removing screens. It’s about protecting and prioritising interaction.
And interaction is where foundations are built. These foundations are built in small, repeated, everyday moments.
In our house, when Paddington is on, I try to watch with her. We laugh together. We repeat phrases. We notice things together. One episode even led to us writing and posting a letter. The screen was the starting point, but the learning happened in the moments after… talking, pretending and playing.
Big impact doesn’t come from big interventions. It comes from those small moments, repeated often. For me as a parent, those moments can also include:
- Talking while you walk
- Counting while you tidy
- Singing while you wait
- Noticing together
Supporting early learning isn’t about doing more. It’s about strengthening what we’re already building with intention.
