Engl. transl.: Parents’ opinions on parental mediation strategies used to instruct toddlers

Children’s use of touch-screen devices begins in infancy, and by the age of one, children are active media users. There is little clear guidance as to how very young children can learn from touch screens and what should be the role of parental assistance. On the other hand, children’s use of technology is affected by parental beliefs and that is why it is important to focus on infant and toddler studies. The aim of this study was to examine Estonian parents’ opinions about the necessity of touch screen devices for infants and toddlers, including parental involvement during the child screen-play. The results of the study lead to the conclusion that parents let their children use touch screens because they saw it as educationally beneficial. For those parents, tablets have a place in the development and learning in the home environment. Parents also use tablets as a babysitter to keep their children entertained. Equally, there are parents who do not allow their children to use touch screens at all. Some parents perceived a health risk to their children’s eyesight and also the possible adverse effects to parent-child communication.

"Many parents of the youngest children need information about parental involvement i.e. how to supervise a child’s use of digital devices. Parents are very interested in obtaining pedagogical advice, especially as regards educational and age-appropriate content, suggestions for managing children’s tablets and advice as how to keep children safe online. Some strategies indicated active and restrictive involvement, supervision and technical restrictions but further study is needed to investigate how parental involvement occurs in the age-group of two and a half to three year old children." (Nevski & Vinter, 2015, p. 78).