How much screen time do your children under 12 get?

[Pikachuwithyourmouthclosed]

Screens are the cause of 99% of the arguments in our house. I'm obviously getting it wrong.

I'm interested to know how much yours are allowed on screens, and how you manage it?

I have 3 children aged 6, 9 and 12.

We have one tv and they have an x-box attached to that, the 12 yr old has a phone, and they have 2 DS thingies.

They don't go on screens Monday to Friday morning.

Friday afternoon is a free-for-all once we get in from activities at 5ish and they usually play Minecraft together for a couple of hours.

Saturday morning they get up early and watch Youtube videos.
The rest of Saturday and all of Sunday they want to spend on screens but often we have other things to do.

I'm getting a lot of flack from them - apparently I'm too strict and I "arbitrarily" say no when there's no good reason why they can't go on screens. I don't like fighting with them about this. I suspect I might be a bit unrealistic. But if I give them an inch they take a mile - it's really hard to compromise and find a middle ground when what they want is unlimited access to all screens, all day every day. And they're so bloody grumpy after being on screens - really unpleasant and unkind to each other.

This afternoon ds sobbed and sobbed because I said no to playing a video game. I just didn't see the need - the sun was shining, we were all out in the garden, dh had tied up some hammocks and rigged up an old swing. We were having a nice time outside. Except of course, we weren't. Ds was having a miserable time, and would much rather have been inside playing Spore.

How do you do it?

Mine are much younger, but TV is on whilst I cook dinner, no screens at dinner. Then when I bath the youngest, the oldest is allowed his DS. And after a story if we are all ready for bed by 6.30pm, he is allowed it until 7. Then I remove it.

Mine are 15 and 16 - they use screens whenever they want to.

They have a social life, they do their homework, they both have part time jobs and attend cadets, they are academically top set, they are polite and friendly and pleasant to each other (despite sharing a room from birth!)

They have always used screens when they want to, sometimes a bit too often for my liking, but having laid out all of the good points above, I really and honestly have NO reasonable argument as to why they can't.

DSD is 7 and she doesn't get set times allowed. If we feel she's had too long, we will ask her to come off. The agreement is she can have screen time when everything else is done - homework, reading, bedroom tidied, chores. We take her to two sports classes a week and go on dog walks, so as far as I'm concerned if all of the above has been done there is no harm in her having a bit of screen time. She is allowed them in her bedroom but she has to bring them in to us by 8pm. This means she's not getting more than an hour or so a day, and some days not at all.

6 under 12s....
None in the morning
Pre-schoolers get 10 mins of tv songs while I dish up dinner to stop them yelling in the highchairs and being near the hot oven or underfoot!
The 5, 10, 11 yr old have 30 mins of computer or tv time - their choice - every evening.
We watch a family dvd one night per week.
We prefer them to play, make lego, colour etc......the more tv they watch, the grumpier they become 😈

I don’t restrict screens, never have. It’s never on in the morning anyway so it’s not missed, they self regulate and maybe watch an hour a day, a little more at the weekends, all have interests and hobbies outside the house and we do a lot together as a family

DCs 5 & 7 - no screen time week days mornings, 30 mins max tv weekdays after dinner but actually it hardly goes on during week. Weekends morning s they can watch tv till we go out, usually about an hour or so and we might watch a movie together on weekend. Family iPad used weekends only, we don’t have any consoles. We’re deffo stricter than most of DC 7’s parents but don’t give a stuff! They sometimes play games etc. At other people’s houses which is fine. If they don’t get screen time they do all sorts of stuff, play together etc. And the more telly:games they get the worse they are usually so while they’re young and can still control it we do.

Hour and a half across all devices.

Weekends only. 9 and 11

My kids are aged between 7 and 10. Its on all the time. All the time. It causes a lot of arguements. 12 hours a day is normal on weekends. My kids have sen so no afterschool and weekend clubs take them. Cant go for walks. Nothjng. Its bloody depressing

12, 10 and 2 here. The older two have a shared laptop and dc1 has a phone. No consoles.

The older two get 45 min each a day after homework and music practice and free-for-all on Fridays after 6pm. The little one gets to watch one or two episodes of In the Night Garden or similar a day. Laptop is in living room and dc1 is not allowed to take phone into his room unless in very specific circs and after telling us. Weekend screen time can be longer, and they get to play games etc with friends when they come over. Family and other activities come first.

It's exhausting to police but it works, sort of.

Dc1 also has a Raspberry Pi which is in his room but we let him use that on top of screen time because it's for coding etc.

@Wizzywig - that does sound depressing for kids and you.
Mine have different levels of sen and we found that tv made behaviour worse, so took tv away for a couple of years when they were little to try to make life better.
Why do walks not work? Can we give you some ideas of things to do here? Or do you feel like you have tried most things?
Long walks work for us, wellies, raincoats, snacks as a bribe etc....hot chocolate and a film on our return on cold saturdays etc..
I hope you find better days soon, being a parent is hard sometimes

Hello, just wanted to share this little video about a report on Screen Time from Children in Northern Ireland - I think it raises some really interesting points. You can watch here: youtu.be/rhI_F3X2Oa0

I often wonder if people who claim their kids get "10 minutes" of this and that actually have an hour. Ten minutes is absolutely nothing

Mine are 5 & 2, the tv is unrestriced, and I have the haybts app for the tablets, once the tasks are done on it they can access playtime on the tablets for a set amount of time that I control on my phone, currently its an hour a day. They get 5 mins warning that they've used all their play time, and can see how many more minutes they have left.

I've found that they play more with toys than they do anything else

Not much restrictions here really. As long as they are ready for school they can go on phones/tablets. After homework and tea they can go on the Xbox but it gets switched off at 8 and then ds2 (8) reads in bed. Ds1 (12) can have his phone until 9. In my experience, most of their friends are having more than this - mine are the first to switch off of an evening. Weekends, as long as they have been out and about at some point, I am relaxed about Xbox use

I have dds age 6 and 7. We have never limited their screen time. I find they watch about an hour and a half a day, which I am ok with.