Do you think this screen time schedule is okay for a 7 year old?

[foreveryoungjustkidding]

Me and my ex are trying to come up with a screen time (phone) schedule for daughter. We have been fairly relaxed about screen time but now realise she's spending far too much time on her phone and would sit on it all day if we would let her.

We have come up with this schedule -

Monday - 6 - 6.45

Tuesday - 5.15 - 6 (due to after school activities)

Wednesday - 6 - 6.45

Thursday - 6 - 6.45

Friday - bit more relaxed/depends what plans are etc

Saturday - 2 - 2.30 (can be flexible depending on what she’s doing but 30 minutes in afternoon) and 1.5 hours at night

Sunday - 2 - 2.30 (can be flexible depending on what she’s doing but 30 minutes in afternoon) and 6 - 6.45.

Does this seem too strict? Too relaxed? Too much screen time still?

Thanks.

@TheGumption putting appropriate limits in place is exactly what I'm trying to do.

[quote flowerycurtain]@foreveryoungjustkidding it isn't the norm though. I have an 8yo and a 7yo.

I don't know a single one of their peer group that would be allowed on a parents phone for more than 10 mins on a Saturday in an emergency.

Tablets and consoles a little bit. Tv quite a lot. But these would al have parental restrictions on.

Our school is bombarding us with healthy internet usage (ie none without supervision and v little at that age) and getting kids playing out not on a screen. [/quote]
Our school on the other hand is bombarding us with a million learning apps we NEED to let them do. Spelling Shed, Timestable Rockstars, and whatever else.

Just get rid of all phone time at her age, much eaiser than all that timetabling. I don't think this sounds much fun for her or you.

Mine are older, never did anything like this in primary.

@Orangeinmybluelightcup Count yourself lucky you missed out on the Oak National Academy. I used to LIKE the BFG before they murdered it.

DS 7 and DD 4 have an hour if iPad after school/nursery on a Friday afternoon and 1.5 hours on a Saturday morning, provided beds are made, bedroom floors picked up. Any other screen time is watched as a family.
I think your schedule is still quite a lot of alone screen time OP. Could you maybe watch a ‘short’ together on Netflix instead of 45 mins on the phone?

My children (14, 11 and 7) have no restrictions on their screen time. They have tablets, Xbox, TV, Switch, Occulus to choose from and the older two have phones.
They also have toys, craft stuff, games, books, trampoline to choose from, plus a playground across the road. I encourage them to self-regulate their activities, and support them to do so.

I'll go again the grain here & say DD has no screen time limit.

She does three after school activities, gets on great at school. Pays attention etc.

She's an all round great kid & I can trust her. She's got a Switch and an iPod she can use as a phone.

Maybe it's because it's never been an issue for us but if we tell her she has to come off she says okay & turns off whatever she's doing. She's never complained or thrown a tantrum at having to stop playing something or watching a video.

I'm sure I'm in the wrong & there will be plenty people saying it's wrong but she's an all round great kid and I've never needed to limit things like screen time.

My 8 (nearly 9) year old, has one of our old phones, she never plays games etc on it, she uses our iPad or laptop for that.

Your plan would be too rigid for us, we tend to be more fluid. Some days she's on for ages, others like today we have been busy all day so she's not been on at all. Some nights because of clubs she's not on, others she has no clubs so she chills out with Roblox and her mates.

I think if you feel she's needs structure and routine to manage it, then your plan will work well. For me, we manage it by giving her other things to do to occupy her away from the tablet etc.

@StormcloakNord I will go against the grain with you. There are some very sanctimonious responses on this thread 😂

No limits for my children, never have done. They are happy, well adjusted boys with hobbies, outside interests and lots of friends. My oldest is 18, works hard at his part time job, frequently goes to the gym and is off to uni to study law in September. All with no screen time limits- imagine!!

Just to add OP, my advice would be don’t overthink it!

We have family link.
Dd has access to a tablet, but family link limits the time.
She gets half an hour on a weekday evening. This is after our chat about our days. Sometines she plays in the car on the way home from school. Other days we play I spy or the alphabet game.

She has 90 mins a day over the weekend. The family link wont let the tablet switch on before 10:00 or after 19:00
So no staying up late or getting up early to play on it. She can use her time at any points during the day, between 10 and 7.
Some days she uses them. Most days she is too busy riding her bike.
But it is a nice thing to amuse her for an hour if the weather is really awful.
You might find you get less of a reaction from your dc if "the phone" says time up, rather than you saying time up.
They cant whinge for just a few more minutes at a machine.

No screen limits here either, DD (12) has times she likes to go on but self-regulates so we have never bothered imposing limits. She doesn't usually watch anything from about 5 onwards on a weekday though. My only thought on reading your post was how you would remember those random slots each day.

There is a difference from letting a child go on your phone for a bit and giving them one at 7.

We have an Alexa that the kids shout ‘Alexa phone dad’ and they can contact him any time. They don’t need a mobile. They can do it from their room so it’s private

I have a 14 year old niece and the amount of shit that goes on through facebook, insta, snap chat is shocking. Kids are just not emotionally mature enough to have direct contact with each other.

On a side note I’ve just had a 7 year old contact my 8 year old via FaceTime. They moved away a while ago but still remained in contact. All day she had been FaceTiming me to speak to my dd - who has been at her dads. But I’ve been working. I’ve just had a voice mail of her friends mate telling my dd how much my dd friend is upset as she’s not picking up. With lots of crying emojis.

It’s ridiculous.

Her mother ( one of my good friends) has just got a terse message.

Going back to your original post - why the set time table? Have you really for nothing to talk about /do? I get the limited time we al use it. But this time table suggests baby sitting to me

All with no screen time limits- imagine!!

Really depends on the child. I have twins (13): one self regulates her screen time and doesn’t overdo it. The other is totally addicted and has no balance. If I didn’t have screen time limits she’d literally be on her phone every walking minute.

I think your schedule is good OP, as long as she’s not also watching tons of TV. (There were concerns over roblox and kids bring messages so not sure if that’s resolved- worth checking).

unfortunately it's just the norm these days, it's the time she's growing up in

Hmm, not really sure that’s a way to bolster your plans. It’s certainly a way to get a few minutes fucking peace 😂. The ‘time she’s grown up in’ is actually dictated by you.

@VestaTilley

7 year olds do not need phones. Take it away (as well as tablets) and she can have it back at 11/12, with limits and parental controls.

Your DD deserves a childhood. And she certainly should not have any phone time in an evening as it massively affects sleep and concentration.

Not sure that’s true. My 5 year old has a half hour of screen time a day and what works for us is just before bed. Her speech and reading level are exceeding so can’t see an issue. She also sleeps solidly.

I don’t think a phone is the best for watching or playing as it is on the small side.

As far as the whole screen time debate goes, WHAT kids watch is hugely important. An hour of TV could be very educational and spark curiosity. They could be discovering a new passion. Or learning a new language. Or it could be zombie hour.

Just my opinion, this is a fact free zone.

You could put kids youtube as an app on your tv? That would avoid the tiny screen/blue light issue.
(Doesn't need to be a fancy tv, our is one earliest flat screens and can do it)

I think 7 is a bit young for roblox personally.

My 9 and 7 year olds share an Amazon fire tablet with child settings. They have an hour each on school nights and an hour and a half each day at weekends. They can use their time whenever they want after school up to 6pm and anytime on weekends up to 6pm. They don't go on everyday but it's there if they want it and they can organise their own time.

A seven year old does not need to be using a phone every day Blimey, how unnecessary. Sorry to be judging OP, but I have DC and just can't imagine letting her play y on my phone every day

I encourage them to self-regulate their activities, and support them to do so.

I think that's definitely a good skill to learn, but I'm not sure how easy it would be for younger children? A 7 year old might not have the self control

@101kids

There is a difference from letting a child go on your phone for a bit and giving them one at 7.

We have an Alexa that the kids shout ‘Alexa phone dad’ and they can contact him any time. They don’t need a mobile. They can do it from their room so it’s private

I have a 14 year old niece and the amount of shit that goes on through facebook, insta, snap chat is shocking. Kids are just not emotionally mature enough to have direct contact with each other.

On a side note I’ve just had a 7 year old contact my 8 year old via FaceTime. They moved away a while ago but still remained in contact. All day she had been FaceTiming me to speak to my dd - who has been at her dads. But I’ve been working. I’ve just had a voice mail of her friends mate telling my dd how much my dd friend is upset as she’s not picking up. With lots of crying emojis.

It’s ridiculous.

Her mother ( one of my good friends) has just got a terse message.

Going back to your original post - why the set time table? Have you really for nothing to talk about /do? I get the limited time we al use it. But this time table suggests baby sitting to me

But see this is one of those situations that is highly variable by family. I refuse to have an Alexa in the house because I don't think its secure enough to conduct work calls near. On the other hand I'm proficient enough that I can lock down an iPad or iPhone to the point that my kids can't access youtube or a browser, let alone social media, and any apps they install need my fingerprint to approve. I've got no objection to them playing on one of my old phones (without a simcard, running off my phone's hotspot) for something like Pokemon Go.

A 7 year old might not have the self control
No, so I prompt her if I think she’s been on a screen for too long,“5 more minutes and then you need a break”.

Oh well we have no screen times and we don't restrict snacks in our house. It's a free for all. Funnily enough my daughter doesn't sit on her tablet/phone/chromebook all day and she doesn't eat herself silly.

Restricting things make them more desirable.

I don't give two fucks what anyone else thinks. My daughter is excelling in school, she attends kickboxing several times a week and is always playing outside.