Healthy Media Habits Video Series
for Parents and Caregivers of Children Ages 0 to 5
Healthy Media Habits is a set of five short videos from early childhood media experts, Roxy Etta and Liz Horgan. They are for families and caregivers of children ages 0–5. In these videos, you’ll get clear, easy-to-use tips on how to guide your child’s media use. You’ll learn how to help your child get the most out of media, avoid common problems, and feel more confident about your media choices.
Each video also comes with handouts. These tools make it easier to remember the main ideas, guide you step-by-step on how to take action, and help you make a media plan that works for your family. This series was created to give you the support to be a strong media mentor for your child.
Video 1: Our Responsibility to Shape Children’s Digital World (12 minutes)
Learn tips to use media in a balanced, healthy way, including screen time, what kids watch, talking with kids about media use, and making time for other activities.
​Video1_Handouts.pdf  / Spanish_Video1_Handouts.pdf ​​
Video 3: Evaluating Media Content & Choosing High-Quality Options for TV Videos and Movies (11 minutes)
This video has two parts: the first is about picking good shows and movies for young kids, and the second is about choosing good apps. It explains why to avoid shows that are too loud or scary, gives tips for making educational and fun choices, and includes handouts with sample lists to help you.
Video 2: The Risks and Benefits of Screens (13 minutes)
This video shares the pluses and minuses of screen use and how adults can make screen time positive for kids by setting limits, choosing good shows or apps, and joining in with their kids.
Video 4: Boosting the Benefits of Screen Time (10 minutes)
This video gives ideas for how parents and caregivers can use media with kids to make screen time better. Even when you can’t watch together, talking about what kids saw helps them learn more.Â
Video 5: Mastering the Media Environment at Home (17 minutes)
This video brings all the information from the other videos together by helping parents ​​create a media plan to set goals, values, and rules about media use for everyone in the home.
Video5_handout_​Family.pdf / ​SpanishVideo5_handoutFAMILIAR.pdf​
Additional Media Use Resources
- Kids and Screen time questions by age group (Healthy Children)
- Parent Guides by age group (Common Sense Media)
- Office of Children’s Mental Health Screen time fact sheet
- Managing Family Use of Technology and Social Media
- Social Media and Youth Mental Health
- Digital Well-Being Resources from Sesame Workshop
- The Children and Screens Institute of Digital Media and Child Development resources
