How To Manage Children's Screen Time And Ease That Dreaded Mum Guilt

‘Screen time gets demonized as this awful thing where we’re all lazy parents for giving kids a tablet, but the reality is we had screen time too it just wasn’t as advanced. Now, kids can connect with family, play educational games or watch something entertaining, screen time doesn’t automatically equal “wasting time”’

‘2020 has not been the summer that anybody planned,’ she tells Grazia over Google Hangouts. ‘We've had to adapt and think and shift. For me personally, my son is at that in-between age where he’s not a teenager but he does want independence. He has relationships with friends he wants to see and normally would during summer, so with lockdown helping him stay connected online has been a new thing for me to navigate.

While she notes that of course screen time can be ‘too much of a good thing’, she implores parents to think about what their children are doing online as it may not leave them with as much. ‘If they’re watching something, is it entertaining or educational?’ she asks. ‘Are they Facetiming family? There’s so many good things they can do on there and we just need to get creative with it.’

‘Involving them in the conversation helps it feel more like a negotiation, especially if you’re still home-schooling or doing certain activities throughout the day like reading or exercising,’ she continues. ‘Allocating windows of time and helping them feel like they have a say – even if you know they don’t – it’s easier for them to take. No one likes to be half way through doing something online and have someone come in and just say “Off now.

Letting them feel like that have some control is important, because then they can rationalise “Okay I can play again tomorrow” knowing that the time will be up soon.Her other tips include using screen time as an incentive. ‘You might have said before, when you asked them do to a chore that maybe you’d give them a pound to teach them the value of money,’ she explains.

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Source: The Guardian - 🏆 84. / 53 Read more »