How do you manage screen time in your house? And how else do your DCs spend their time?

[SaltandPepperRibs]

We have DCs aged 4, 9 and 11. The older ones are mad for PS4 and YouTube and would happily spend literally every hour of the day playing/watching.

We feel like this isn't balanced and whilst there are positives to these activities, at the moment it feels a bit obsessive.

We've been trying to think about what would be fair usage and how to police it. So, say an hour each on PS4 after school and 30 minutes iPad/YouTube? Or what? Do you use any tech to monitor usage?

We're stuck.

We also feel like we need to teach them how to do other things with their time. Eldest DC is quite good with little projects like video editing, which we'd be fine with. But what else do your DCs do with their time at home? And particularly on these dark, cold nights when going to the park etc isn't very nice.

You may notice I've also got a thread asking about family game recommendations. The DC are delighted with the prospect of hanging out playing with us...

[SaltandPepperRibs]

Any ideas?

[Artandco]

We have no tv or games consoles or iPads at all here. So I suppose easier to police as option is 0 use.
If we are at home they just play toys, games, puzzles, draw, read etc.. they never seem bored. They help with dinner prep etc also and homework, then baths, eat etc so there isn't a huge amount of time anyway before bed

[SaltandPepperRibs]

I guess no devices would be one way to make it easier!

What kind of puzzles are your kids into?

[Artandco]

Various puzzles. They do 300 piece ones usually at the moment. They like games like solitaire, jenga, chess, bananagrams.

[RhinestoneCowgirl]

We have a rule of no screens until after 5pm on school nights, this gives time to have a drink/snack and chat after school and do something else rather than go straight for the screen.

[RhinestoneCowgirl]

Oh and what else they do: reading, drawing, playing outside, Lego, wrestling, messing about.

At weekends we're fond of board games, got some good ones for Xmas

[oobedobe]

I have one TV addict and one not as bothered, they are 8 & 4.
We aim for an hour a day after school, so 5-6pm they can have the TV on or tablets instead of TV. Sometimes it is more, sometimes rarely no TV .

At the weekend they can have it on in the morning for an hour or two if we have nothing else to do, they may also watch a movie with us later or play a video game with their dad for a bit.

These are not strictly enforced just the approx level of what we feel happy for them to watch. Eldest will just binge watch Netflix so I have learned to be a bit stricter.

The rest of the time they play with toys, lego, do drawing, playdoh, dress-up/pretend play, boardgames (Orchard Toys, Labyrinth, Race to the Treasure, Quirkle, Jenga etc).

Mine also go to bed by 7.30/8 so not a huge amount of time to fill between school and bedtime.