Screen time for 5 & 6 yr olds

[ImFree2doasiwant]

Honest, how much do you allow, and what do you//they do when not watching TV. Also, do you only allow certain viewing?

I'm a single parent, working (part office, partly WFH). I'll preface this by saying, they are with me 6 days out of 7, abs every night/morning.

I feel like I have let things slip with to screen time. Some days I'm wfh after school and they do watch tv/have tablet time while I do that.

Weekends they have just (in the past couple if weeks) started going downstairs together and watching tv. So I get a lay in of sorts. I'm awake, but nit catapulted from sleep into mum mode!

They, (especially the 6 ye old) will watch endless shite on YouTube though. This is part of my concern, as if I wouldn't mind them watching TV so much if it was actual cartoons/programs

They don't have a games console.

I've started setting toys/colouring/activities out and they do get very easily engaged in them and then won't ask fir the telly.

Sometimes, telling them to watch TV so I can "get on" or so they aren't making another mess fir me to sort out. Sometimes, if I'm honest, so they go and be quiet as they can be loud and boisterous when playing and I do struggle with that at times.

Sounds like you're doing just fine to me. I mostly WFH too and the kids are left to entertain themselves in that time so do tend to use their screens for a lot of the time. I agree about YouTube and would just remove the app to be honest so they don't have the option to use it. We do various clubs in the evenings and at the weekend and they're not allowed their tablets at all in the mornings so they have time for other things too.

Thank you @Burnt0utMum (your username resonates....) they don't use the tablet too much, it's a kindle and there's no minecraft or roblox or anything. Although I was considering getting minecraft. They do swimming and beavers so that's 2 nights.

I have considered getting rid of YouTube but dc1 LOVES watching music videos.

We put a PIN number on YouTube kids and DS1 (now 6) only gets given it if we really need a lie in! He was watching loads of rubbish toy unboxing or stop motion type videos of his favourite shows which (largely the background music!) was driving me mad! They (DS2 is 3.5) watch it a bit in the morning after they're ready for school/nursery and when they get home. They both like doing colouring band still pay with toys too. I'm quite easy going with it as a) the weather is too yuck to be spending much time outside still and b) covid has meant everyone has to just get on with whatever they can at home.

I think your setup sounds fine, maybe just limit YouTube so they watch better quality stuff.

Oh yes, he's gone off the unboxing a bit now but has moved on to watching other people play games and other random crap. The noise is dreadful, I agree.

It's a shame he can't access the music videos another way, I don't mind him watching those

I hate seeing DD watching videos of people playing at softplay (she's only 2) as I feel bad she's not having fun there herself! But then it's a normal thing to do - plenty of people love watching football.

Depending on how tired she is and how difficult her newborn brother is being DD has anywhere from 1 hour to a lot more! We watch TV at dinner times to keep her longer at the table and eat more and watch videos together after her bath but those I feel less bad about as they'll be something cultural or animals or something and we talk about them.

Honestly my kids did not have tablets at 6 or 7. Not until teens. They got about 1 1/2 hours TV a day but 2 hours at weekends. My kids did lots of activities like swimming, cricket, rugby, piano, guitar, horse riding and playing in the garden or riding bikes. If it was wet we did board games like Scrabble, monopoly, connect 4, cluedo etc. They also did Suduko and word puzzles jigsaws etc. They were all keen readers and still are.

My 5 year old has about 2 hours of tablet time a day at the weekend, up to an hour on a school day. I don't love it, would like to reduce it but he is a very intense child and sometimes we need a break.

The rest of the time, we read books, play trains/cars/batman/dinosaurs (but I think he is a young 5 in his tastes?), bit of Duplo/Lego.

Mine really likes his Tonie box especially first thing in the morning - yours are probably getting more into yoto player age

I’ve got four and seven year olds. During the week they have about 30-45 mins of TV on Tuesday, Thurs, more on Friday (prob 90 mins). By the time we get home from after school club/tea time club we don’t have a lot of time. On the weekends they have their tablets/watch TV together from about 2-4 ish so prob 2-2.5 hrs. On their tablets they can have Netflix or Disney or iPlayer, all age restricted. Our rules are no screens till after lunch. It’s always been that way and they don’t argue with it. No YouTube at all. They don’t have a games console thing but I’ve no doubt it’s looming into our lives as the 7 yr old’s friends have them! To be honest it feels like the right balance for us at the moment and them having a couple of hrs on a weekend afternoon let’s DH and I have some downtime after lunch.

I not worried about the tablet, we only have 1 in the house, they use it once ir twice a week, it's more the tv/YouTube