My kids will tell you there should be an exclamation point at the end of this title. The way they use it, Screen time really does rule. They’d much prefer that we had no rules and allowed them on their game consoles, computers, tablets and iPods anytime they please.
But as a parent who is concerned about the amount of time they spend staring at their screens, I want to encourage a more balanced day with some time allotted for the screen, and other time for cooperative, physical and creative play.
But how do we balance it all? Last summer I initiated a program where the kids created their own balanced schedule. Their days were planned in 30-minute increments and, each Monday, they completed their weekly plan to include a pre-determined allotment of learning, creativity, screen time and more. As the school year approached, we shifted gears a bit, and scheduled just 90 minutes of balanced schedules each week.
But we quickly learned that with school taking up six and a half hours each day, followed by homework and after school activities, those 90 planned minutes were, sometimes, hard to fit in, so we looked to reassess and find new balance.
The school-year screen time rules last year worked for our family: each morning, as long as they were dressed for school and their rooms were (somewhat) clean, the kids could have screen time in the morning until 8 am. At 8, all screens were off (including mine) so that we could have breakfast and the kids could complete a “morning math” worksheet before school.
After school, if were weren’t immediately out the door for swim, baseball or soccer, the kids had creative or physical playtime (which left it really open-ended) along with snack time for about an hour. Following, we’d do homework and have dinner. On rainy days, we’d allow for screen time every other afternoon.
But tracking every-other rainy afternoon became a nuisance, so we tweaked the rules a bit, and the kids shocked me by accepting. Last winter, unless school was closed, we outlawed gaming screen time during the week. We still allowed for limited TV (sports competition and shows such as Wipeout). On the weekends during free time the kids were permitted to play on screens.
What’s important here isn’t how much time or how balanced we were. We didn’t come up with these rules based on some recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics, or because Mary Marvelous Mom said to. We created our rules because they worked best for our family.
How does your family plan screen time? Do you have rules and expectations?
