Supporting Parents and Caregivers: Guidelines and Interventions on Screen Exposure in the Early Years

Considering the repercussions of screen exposure in early childhood and during caregiver-infant interactions , there is a growing need to support families and their networks. Many families do not have access to evidence-based information and do not know how to proceed when it comes to regulating child’s screen exposure and evaluating screen usage impacts on caregiver-child relationships. Furthermore, parents and other caregivers connected with devices may show lower sensitivity to children’s cues, affecting the quality of interaction in different ways. To target this emerging problem, updated guidelines and interventions focused on parental skills, such as sensitivity and parental reflective functioning, can be a way to promote family health by focusing on more sensitive parenting and a healthier use of screens. This chapter aims to present and discuss current guidelines worldwide and the need for parental interventions.