Brain scans of children 3 to 5 years old show a link between screen time and lower brain development. Here’s what parents can do to protect their preschooler’s brains without throwing the iPad out the window.

Screen time use by infants, toddlers and preschoolers has exploded over the last few years. Our instructors speak to students in school assemblies about cyber safety all over the United States. When we started doing this six years ago, the very thought of speaking to Kindergarden students would have been ridiculous. Our 4th through 12th grade assemblies focus on three central themes:

1. Do not share your personal information with strangers;

2. Mean, rude, or threatening posts or messages can have devastating consequences; and

3. Since everything you post online lasts forever, post things your future college or employer will find to make you shine, and you can be proud of.

Based on those themes, I saw no reason to talk to kindergarten through 3rd grade students. Why would we, they don’t have phones or social media, right?

About 2 years ago, that all changed. School after school began asking for cyber safety assemblies for their littles. We created an age appropriate assembly with videos of fun cartoon characters that cover basic online safety for kinder through 3rd grade students. When we start all of our assemblies, we always ask the students to raise their hands ...