Is anyone else tech / screen free for their young children?

[AgileAquaDreamer]

Have a 5 year old, for full admission we home educate and have never used childcare so this is somewhat easier decision as we have more control and yes I appreciate how lucky we are (child has diagnosed SEN so home educating was practically our only real option to be fair)
I want to know how common it is for 5yo to not have used a phone / laptop / tablet? We mostly outdoor/forest/montessori style school at the moment and use worksheets etc. no need for a laptop or apps.

How do you introduce meaningful screen and internet usage and at what age?
and before anyone starts I’m not judging anyone else’s choices and it doesn’t bother me if your child uses screens honestly you do you, I’m asking for advice not a pile on, thanks!

My 6 year old has never used a phone/laptop/tablet at home but might have done at school. It's just never really come up and I would prefer to hold out as long as possible.

We're more relaxed about TV but still restrict the time, e.g. no TV in the morning even on the weekend.

okay thank you yes we do minimal amount of tv, we don’t have a smart telly so no YouTube or anything. If I passed a phone they wouldn’t know how to use it, I don’t use my phone really in their presence if possible.
May I ask does your child school make them do homework on an app? I know many do and one of my main reasons holding me back from sending them is to avoid the screens.

Most school will use screens from nursery/reception so I would think a five year olds with no screen time at all are very, very rare.

In terms of introducing meaningful screen time I would start with an occasional family viewing of a really good high quality short film, one of the Julia Donaldson ones or Mog or maybe Wallace and Gromit.

In terms of screens other than TV, I would say you don't really need to introduce them until junior school age or potentially even later. It depends on what sort of learner your child is though. There are some great educational apps and if they enjoy learning this way I wouldn't shy away from using it just because 'its a screen'. The apps are often far more engaging than a worksheet so it's not surprising that some children prefer using them!

Thank you, I guess my issue is I remember seeing a documentary (the irony haha) about the use of screen based educational apps and how the children often don’t actually absorb the information in a meaningful way as they are more focused on the gaming aspect of many of these apps and ‘winning’ progressing to the next levels etc.

I think it really depends on what sort of learner they are. As with everything in parenting the best you can do is tailor your approach to your specific child. Having a general view/policy that doesn't take the individual child into consideration is always a bad idea.

I wouldn't hold off sending a 5 yo to school for screens as my experience of primary school is that they don't use tech much.

We've had optional times tables and adding up homework up to year 3ish on an app (you could opt out) they have the occasional computer lesson and watch a bit of newsround. The computer lessons are about as regular as I remember them being in school i.e. rare and I cant get worked up about newsround. Seems to stimulate a conversation 🤷‍♀️

Memories of a singular computer covered in a sheet being wheeled out for the whole class, haha. Thank you, I think it really varies between schools. I will probably be looking to place from upper juniors so another 1-2 years.

Haha yes, key childhood memories unlocked!

Take your time looking around, it might depend where you live. Fwiw, I'm similar to you in wanting minimal screen time and was nervous in case they would all be on laptops or something! I think its harder for boys to navigate as loads of them seem to get into roblox and Minecraft but girls don't seem to be interested in the same way x

Exactly the same with our 5 year old.

He is beginning to notice some other kids having technology e.g. watching tablets in cafes or on planes, and he commented on a baby watching a phone in their pram on the bus the other day, but so far hasn't asked for anything like that himself. It's something I feel strongly about so have zero plans to introduce him to those type of screens for many years. (He does watch some TV).

Also, his primary school no longer recommends apps for revision of phonics or times tables etc - very much becoming more screen free.

My kids had loads of screens at school so definitely go visit if you have options. It’s smart screens instead of whiteboards etc, lots of videos and they all get an iPad in p5 or younger. My daughter is in high school now and it’s all teams and onenote. She actually prefers writing by hand (think she was born in the wrong decade!) so I get her notebooks to use but most kids type.

My five year old has an ICT lesson once a week and had robotics lessons in reception.

Otherwise we are quite specific with what YouTube content we use but do use a selected amount of YouTube. They love watching Emily Calendrelli’s YouTube channel. She is an engineer and astronaut who does experiments that you can follow along with at home. Jane’s Animal Adventures on apple is also a big hit and SciShow and CrashCourse kids are useful to explain concepts often much better than I can! I set up and monitor the videos though, it’s never unrestricted access to click through to the next videos.

Yes we home educate children from 16 down to our twins 2 year olds. Don't see the need for any we have to much fun doing other things lol. Our 16 got his first phone when he was 14 still has restrictions. They have a play station which is a treat or if your ill you get to use it but no for us it works we all love to do board games, chatter and laugh all day or out with our families doing stuff. We recently took the family for a meal out which doesn't happen often as there so many of us and apart from 1 couple with a baby our table was the only one chatting and laughing and the rest of the tables were all stuck in phones in one hand while fork in the other. Sad tbh, you don't get to know your children well that way or your hubby

I an a teacher in a private international school that favours reggio and montessori style learning. However, I will say (secretely) that I think sticking 100% to this is not in the best interests of the child.

While screen time should be limited, when used very mindfully, it can be of a HUGE benefit to the children.

The children of parents who carefully limit screen time and only use screens for carefully designed learning apps, songs or educational TV shows are very noticeably ahead of their peers in certain things. I can see clearly which child's parents use technology (carefully) as a way to continue their child's learning. It is especially obvious is phonics, science, maths and second-language learning. I have always been correct about the children whose parents do and dont make use of these educational materials.

I would say 5 or 6 would be fine to introduce some educational apps and TV shows and songs. Of course don't let them use for too long, and not necessarily every day.

DS is 6 and goes to school. He does not use a phone or tablet. He watches tv but it’s stuff we supervise and approve of first, such as CBeebies.

To get him used to using a laptop the school give the children log ins and do a few supervised sessions where DC log in and do a bit of clip art or basic typing. We won’t be giving him a phone or tablet for many years!

If you’re sending him to school eventually, i’d introduce a laptop in the next year or so. Lots of education based apps / websites. Screen time can be beneficial too, and you don’t want your child to be behind on tech when older. Just be choosy what you use it for, so just part of home ed and no need for a tablet or phone, laptop will be sufficient.

My kids are 3 and 5. No screens used at all in preschool for the 3YO. Neither of them have iPads or phones at home, but do watch TV. Neither of them are ever begging to watch tv or obsessed with it.

5YO has minimal screen time at school - they use a smart board and occasionally watch a short video of a few mins as part of their learning. They do have a laptop in the classroom which sometimes is used 1 on 1 with a teaching assistant to do a learning game. There’s no request for them to use apps at home or have an iPad, it’s all reading books and spellings - but obvs young still so could all change.

To answer your question about homework - no, school send home a paper book. Computer use in school is pretty minimal, so I'm not especially worried.

If my child starts asking about a tablet, I would be happy to get a very locked down one with a couple of educational apps and restrict to 10 mins a day. Luckily she hasn't really shown a massive interest yet. Other than TV, screens don't seem to feature that heavily in her peers' lives (yet!).

They don’t have tv at our nursery. They have occasionally used a laptop for dvd treats like Grinch at xmas.

We have tv on my house but my kids don’t watch youtube etc. Don’t use apps at all at ‘homework’ in reception is just reading and writing without tech.

My 5 year old looks at my phone sometimes just to look at photos we have taken or likes to take photo himself.

We only use the tablet in extreme circumstances like once on a plane (with headphones) or when i’ve had to do a nit comb in the bath.

But they use screens in reception so most 5 year olds will be exposed. They use big screens to teach and also they use Numberblocks from cbeebies to teach maths.

My 6 year old doesn’t have a tablet, laptop or phone. My 9 and 11 year olds get one hour tablet time on Saturday and Sundays and that’s it. They also have phones to walk to school with, but they are put away the second the kids are back in the house .

IMO don’t introduce screens unless you have to (e.g your older child has a phone to go out). My older boys haven’t suffered and although their friends comment we are “strict”, my kids are still popular and not outcasts because of it.

We don't have a TV, but our 5yo and 3yo watch 20mins of a limited range of TV programmes on my iPad at weekends (they're in childcare every morning during the week). We occasionally also show them something educational like a nature video if they ask a specific question. Other than that they don't use screens at all aside from video calls with family. I also limit my own use when they're around.

My kids are teens now but they never had tech at that age. We were totally screen free on weekdays because they couldn’t handle the tv going off so it was easier not to put it on.
when they did get tech a couple of years later, they didn’t have it during the week days and even as teenagers, I have a no gaming rule for weekdays.
Ds1 says he appreciates that now looking back.

DD is 5 and in reception. She's been in childcare since 9 months, first childminder, then nursery and now school. She's never used a tablet, phone or laptop at home and all school homework so far is worksheets and physical books. She does understand that you can use a phone to send a message, facetime or take photos & has had a play at typing on a laptop. She knows some kids have tablets for games and watch TV on phones but accepts we don't.

We've signed the no smartphones pledge and that is our intention. As they introduce IT in school we will see if anything needs adjusting or adding in. I don't object to her learning how to use tech, but we wanted to restrict mindless distraction more than anything. She does have a Yoto and often uses that in scenarios other kids we know use tablets, but the Yoto leaves her free to potter and play alongside.

@wineosaurusrexThis is really interesting, thanks for your insight. Are there any apps / resources in particular that you would recommend?