It seems like during COVID, screen time in our household skyrocketed. Balancing the needs of work and home was exhausting and sometimes screen time was necessary to accomplish schoolwork or participate in meetings.
Last year, my husband and I decided we wanted to limit screen time for our kids. They were constantly begging to watch shows or use their tablet and it became overwhelming. We also noticed some behavioral issues that we wanted to address and thought limiting screen time would help.
The first thing we (well, I) did was take the TV out of our living room. I wish I could say this was strategic, but it was actually done in the middle of me having a mental breakdown. It ended up being one of the best decisions we’ve made for our family (keeping it out)!
Currently, the only TVs we have in our home are in our kitchen, in our basement/family room, and in our master bedroom.
For those of you wondering about setting some boundaries around screen time, here’s what is CURRENTLY working for us.
Morning Time: Each child gets to pick 1 show (roughly 20 minutes) they would like to watch while my husband and I get ready for the day and make breakfast. This is only done after our two oldest are completely dressed for the day and are in the process of eating breakfast. Our 1 year old’s show is normally Ms Rachel (an angel). Our 3 year old normally picks Rubble and Crew (a spinoff of Paw Patrol), and our 5 year old picks Lucas the Spider (such a cute show – look on Netflix).
Evening: Same deal. We go in order of youngest to oldest, generally after we’ve eaten dinner. This allows me to clean up dinner and spend some quality time with each child as I give them a bath.
Weekends: Depending on how the kids behave during the week, my husband and I may allow them to pick a movie that we can watch together as a family after our 1 year old goes down.
Overall, the kids seem to really like the routine and are respectful of the boundaries. They know what order the shows go in and how long they will get to watch the show. This has prevented so many battles and the kids are much more selective over what they choose. We aim for each child having less than an hour of screen time each day (in line with the CDC recommendations), and we no longer use a tablet in our home (although restaurants are fair game).
I also think it’s important to share a few things we encourage INSTEAD of screen time: dancing/listening to music (look for a future post about our favorite songs), hide and seek, imaginary play with planes and tractors, and because #boymom, couch jumping and obstacle courses.
While some families may offer or encourage more or less screen time, this is what works for us and I hope it’s helpful to parents looking to be more intentional with their children’s screen time.
PS This is not me looking for opinions on how much screen time we offer, or our alternatives 😉 but again, just sharing what currently works for us! Happy viewing!
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