No screens in the bedroom

[Fridaysgirl]

I've stuck completely to this rule so far. Kids are now 10 and 12.
They do have their own "playroom" downstairs- where they have a TV, PlayStation and Nintendo, an old laptop for homework etc and tablets are kept here too (so I can keep an eye on what they are doing).
I really believe that their bedrooms should be electronic free zones and even made sure the WiFi signal doesn't reach that far.
My oldest is now telling me AIBU but I want to stick to my guns. They can have electronics (and I think they are very lucky in what they have) just not in their bedrooms.

It's all down to personal choice, you will get very mixed responses. Some more rigid than others.

Our DC are older teens but they have a PS4 each which they play online with headsets and there was no way we were going to have that in the living room (no playroom here).

I remember we used to have one PS4 that they shared but it became obvious that wasn't going to work.

As for the WiFi how do you make sure it doesn't reach?

Their bedrooms are in an extension a long way from booster plus with extra thick insulation. The builder was apologetic when he put it in! We could always put a second booster in if we ever changed our minds....

Ah ok. I am often using my laptop in bed so I wouldn't be able to do that! I have to turn the router off to make a point to our two. DH and I also have a huge bedroom TV so we probably are right down at the other end of the screens in bedrooms spectrum.

Personally I wouldn't cave. You will end up with kids who don't want to leave their rooms. There is really no need for screens in bedrooms.

I think at 10 and 12 you could probably hold off a bit longer.

It was never a set rule in this house, but when they were at secondary school they were allowed laptops in their roomsb(with basic parental controls activated) for homework etc.

Nothing else worked for us. They couldn't share a computer because they all needed it at the same time, and they absolutely were not having mine.

They are now aged 23, 20 and 16, so no longer an issue. They have their own computers in their rooms and it leaves me in peace to not have to suffer the crap that they seem to find worth watching.

“I really believe that their bedrooms should be electronic free zones and even made sure the WiFi signal doesn't reach that far.”

Utterly, utterly unreasonable. Deeply controlling. Storing up trouble for the future.

10 and 12 year old kids should be able to relax as they choose in their own bedrooms. You’ve got to give them their space. Just take appropriate steps to limit content.

I'd hang in there for another year or two myself. I don't have TVs or laptops in bedroom but in guilty of phone scrolling, awful bad habit.

Screens aren’t harmful. The most recent research from Oxford University shows that fairly clearly.

Agree with StreetwiseHercules. A friend of a friend has very strict limits on screen time and definitely not allowed in the children's rooms. Guess what, they do it anyway, they have just learnt to be secretive and tell lies to their parents.
This generation socialise differently whether we like it or not, a lot of it is playing online with their friends. You need to let them show that they can be trusted, give it a try but lay down the ground rules first. Mine know that when I say its time to come off, I mean it.

Indeed. If I am unfair to my children and they then lie to me then frankly the lie is justified and I have nobody to blame but myself.

Fairness matters. Especially to kids where the balance of power is almost always against them.

You may be able to hold off for another year, but at some point very soon your 12 year old is going to be wanting to watch mind numbingly boring teenage rubbish all evening or start binge watching netflix and then what do you plan on doing.

My DCs are 11 and 13. No screens, phones, any electronic devices in bedrooms - apart from phones which are removed from rooms at tea time. Intend to continue with this. There is too much about kids getting addicted to gaming, social media. It is intensively addictive and at this age, it is unfair in my view to leave them to regulate.

And screens are harmful. Don’t give a toss about what Oxford Uni says. Loads of other stuff coming out now.

Your 13 year old isnt allowed a phone in their room from tea time? That is a bit OTT

“There is too much about kids getting addicted to gaming, social media. It is intensively addictive and at this age, it is unfair in my view to leave them to regulate.”

Absolute rubbish. It’s like how rock and roll music used to be considered subversive. There’s always a moral panic about something, it sells newspapers.

As my two got older they used the PS4 as a means to socialise with their friends. DS1 went to a High School 12 miles away and he has friends spread far and wide. But they would all play together in the evenings.

He's now at Uni and has every screen imaginable in his bedroom 24/7.

“And screens are harmful. Don’t give a toss about what Oxford Uni says.”

Screen use is equivalent in harm to eating potatoes. People just like having something else to control.

Pop.Corn

Pop.Corn ?

I wasn’t allowed a tv in my room until after gcse and whilst times have changed I’ll be thinking along those lines.

It's personal choice. I absolutely loved having my own place that I could go to and relax however I wanted. My own space. It's important for me that my children have that option. I can still keep an eye on TV time regardless of where the TV/ipad/Xbox etc. is.

It’s 14 here for devices in bedrooms.

Like you they have their own space for consoles.

Fuck all to do with being controlling, everything to do with quality of sleep when they are growing at speed.

For the "bun-fight"

I don't plan on putting tvs into the kids rooms, but I don't mind internet access to a certain time. Devices can be removed each evening. Tv can't.