The Daily News – May 1, 2025

Parents, this might shock you, but according to a recent article in National Geographic, kids today are struggling with basic skills like tying shoes, holding a pencil, and even using a spoon. Teachers are seeing it firsthand and experts say Screen time is a huge part of the problem. Not even that long ago, kids came to school with pockets full of rocks and trinkets, but now they arrive glued to screens, and unfortunately it shows. Teachers say, more kids struggle to zip coats, cut with scissors and turn the pages of a book. A survey by Education Week found that 77% of teachers notice kids have a harder time using pencils, pens, and scissors, and 69% say more kids struggle to tie their shoes than five years ago. One teacher in New Jersey says, kids now fumble with simple tasks. When asked to stack blocks, they barely know what to do. Now, experts say screen time lifestyle changes and fewer hands-on activities are to blame here. The pandemic, of course, played a role too. A study of babies born in the first year of Covid to 19 found they scored lower on fine motor skill tests as six months old. The study’s author says, it’s unclear if this is due to parental stress or the different environments pandemic babies grew up in. But according to one Rutgers professor, this problem didn’t start with covid. He feels that the trend was already happening before the pandemic, although the pandemic may have made things a lot worse. One major reason according to this article, screens, phones, tablets, eBooks, every hour spent on a screen is time not spent cutting, coloring, or writing. Digital learning has benefits. We won’t argue with that, but it doesn’t replace real world activities that build fine motor skills. So what can parents do? Encourage hands-on play, drawing, building, and even simple tasks like buttoning up a shirt or using utensils can help. Cutting back on screen time and adding more real world activities can make a big difference. As always, thank you so much for joining us on The Daily News. If you found this helpful, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit that notification bell and we will see you next time.