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The Kids Research Institute Australia cyber safety expert Professor Donna Cross says parents should use the ‘three C’s’ to help keep their children safe online.

Research

Children's physical activity and screen time behaviours impact their physical health and well-being. In Australia, less than half of children meet daily physical activity recommendations and only one-third meet daily screen time recommendations.

Research

Early childhood is a critical window for preventing obesity and chronic disease. Yet, 1 in 4 Australian children aged 5 years and under are affected by overweight or obesity; and significant proportions of children under 5 years fail to meet guidelines for diet quality, physical activity (PA), screen time, and sleep.

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Screen time guidelines recommend no screens under two years due to the potential negative impacts on development. While current reports suggest many children exceed this, research relies on parent reports of their children's screen exposure. We objectively assess screen exposure during the first two years and how it differs by maternal education and gender.

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The aim of this systematic review was to review the evidence for serious gaming interventions in improving sensorimotor function in children and adults with cerebral palsy (CP). Seven databases were searched with terms related to serious gaming and CP.

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This study explores how the first wave of the COVID‐19 pandemic influenced family routines, relationships and technology use (smartphones and tablet computers) among families with infants. Infancy is known to be an important period for attachment security and future child development, and a time of being susceptible to changes within and outside of the family unit.

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Pregnancy and the postnatal period can be a time of increased psychological distress, which can be detrimental to both the mother and the developing child. Digital interventions are cost-effective and accessible tools to support positive mental health in women during the perinatal period.

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Physical activity is essential for children’s healthy development, yet COVID-19 physical distancing restrictions such as school closures and staying at home, playground closures, and the cancelling of organised community sport have dramatically altered children’s opportunities to be physically active. This study describes changes in levels of physical activity and screen time from February 2020 (i.e., before COVID-19 restrictions were introduced in Western Australia) to May 2020 (i.e., when COVID-19 restrictions were in place). Parents of children aged 5 to 9 years from Western Australia were eligible to participate and recruited through convenience sampling.

Research

Mobile touch screen devices (smartphones and tablet computers) have become an integral part of many parents’ and children’s lives, with this interaction linked to physical, mental and social outcomes. Despite the known importance of parent-child attachment, evidence on the association between device use and attachment was yet to be reviewed.

Research

As families increase their use of mobile touch screen devices (smartphones and tablet computers), there is potential for this use to influence parent-child interactions required to form a secure attachment during infancy, and thus future child developmental outcomes. Thirty families of infants (aged 9-15 months) were interviewed to explore how parents and infants use these devices, and how device use influenced parents' thoughts, feelings and behaviours towards their infant and other family interactions.