Interações parentais e hábitos de vida na infância: repercussões da era digital em crianças pré-escolares

Abstract

Introduction: The emergence of the internet and portable devices has made access to screens more intense, which has also been prevalent among children, a worrying aspect for child development. Some factors lead to this increasingly early exposure, such as socio-economic conditions and the influence of family habits. Objective: To identify the repercussions of parental interaction with preschool children and its influence on physical activity, sleep and screen time. Methodology: This is a quantitative exploratory-descriptive study. Validated instruments were applied to caregivers responsible for children in 4 nursery schools, 2 urban and 2 rural, in a municipality in the interior of Rio Grande do Norte, from September to December 2022. Results: Children in rural nurseries had a lower frequency of using screens for more than 1 hour than those in urban nurseries, especially mobile phones and tablets, (46.7% to 58.8%, respectively, on a weekday) and also showed more time playing outdoors for more than 1 hour, (91.8% against 60.7% of urban nurseries, referring to a weekday). In addition, the majority of caregivers demonstrated harmful health behaviours that can influence children, such as the use of screens, which was above the recommended time for them. Conclusion: Most children use screens for longer than is recommended, which can have negative repercussions for healthy physical and mental development. Parental relationships are a child's first influences, and carers themselves are so dependent on screens, revealing that strategies need to be rethought for children's exposure to the digital world.