How much screen does your child have?

[Everyonedoesitthesedays]

*Screen time, won’t let me edit the title

Per day, what age and what type?

Worried if my 7 almost 8 year old has too much or average

She doesn’t have an ipad, but likes to go on the family desktop computer and do a Minecraft type game. She occasionally plays maths or music games on my phone and watches Disney & Netflix

She usually watches some breakfast tv in the morning for a short while-Milkshake, Cbeebies (although is going off this)
After school and playing in the garden-trampoline, doing any homework and dinner, she watches some tv before stories and bedtime or sometimes the computer-not all days.
Weekends she can have a bit more computer time if it’s a slow weekend, often she doesn’t as plays with neighbours or we’re out

Curious to know about others a similar age, it’s something I worry about
We have constant back and forth about Youtube as I dislike it and she sees it at a friends house

Nearly 9 year old. 1 hour of tv on Saturday and Sunday, no other devices and no use of our devices. Plus whatever they do at school if you count the interactive whiteboard.

Wow, that’s a lot less 😬 I thought (hoped) we were ok with our way, but maybe we need to cut back further

DS age 10: hour and hours. Roblox totally banned in our house. YouTube very very heavily curated - not allowed to watch gamers; I’d rather he actually game himself. Allowed to watch specific gaming tutorial if stuck on a game. Not allowed social media, doesn’t have a phone. Not hugely into telly.

Allowed to game and watch telly from the moment he gets up until told to go get ready for bed. Lots is crowded out by other things - school, clubs, dungeons&dragons, playing with siblings. Before bed he plays cards and does maths (weirdo), reads, listens to music etc.

DS age 8: same rules and restrictions as DS1 but very different needs. WAY better at self regulating and mono-tasking. Maybe totals 4hrs a day, 2 before school and 2 after, lots more telly than DS1.

DD age 4: lots of tv. No gaming, YouTube, iPads etc. We were in A&E last night for 7 hours and she just waited and chatted and rested. Would not have survived same circs with DS1 without a screen. All kids are different!

Op, Whilst the previous pp is admirable, it’s just one person, don’t worry. Your question kind of invites people whose kids have less screen time than yours to comment. There will be loads of kids that have lots more than yours, but most of those parents are not going to comment. My two (age 9&10) watch about 1-2 hours a day depending on what we’ve got on - a combination of a bit in the morning, some after school and a bit before bed. They are also allowed a small amount of time on the dreaded YouTube. It’s a constant worry/battle, but I console myself with the fact they are active happy kids who have lots of hobbies, are into sport and are doing well at school. We also do plenty of things together as a family without screens. You have to be comfortable with your daughter’s screen time, but not much point comparing to other people, as other aspects of their kids lives will be different.

6 and 9 year old boys - can watch TV as much as they like, they watch Milkshake in the morning while eating breakfast and getting ready for school. They might watch a bit of tv after school but prefer going out on their bikes, running and their trampoline.

No access to iPads and computers accept at school, no games consoles or phones - we are keeping them away from devices for as long as possible.

I‘m sure you’re OK, it just works better for us this way. I find it easier to have crystal clear boundaries and then we never have any back and forth. Her friends have similar rules, which makes it easier. Decide what rules you are comfortable with, set them and stick to them and don’t enter into negotiation. It will be easier for both of you.

This. Word for word for us. And just like previous poster, she never asks for more because the rules are clear so no negotiation. We do have a family movie most weekends that isn’t included in her one hour. Also many friends with similar rules so it does make it much easier.

Too much. Social media (roblox/ YouTube) is evil IMO......constantly hiding her tablet, i can tell in an instant if shes been on one of those platforms due to backchat etc. Its brainwashing. Not fussed about television/films however.....10 yo.

Feels like mine have a lot. But compared with some I don’t think it is. They’re 11 and 8.

None on school mornings. Maximum 1.5 hours of TV after school Monday-Thursday, sometimes less due to clubs.

Fridays they both have 1-1.5 hours on their iPads after school. Weekend mornings, a good couple of hours of TV. 1-1.5 hours on iPads in the evening, and maybe an hour of watching something as a family, Gladiators/Masked Singer/film.

No YouTube. Eldest plays Roblox or Minecraft, no Fortnight. Youngest just plays kiddie games or Nintendo Switch.

2yr and 3yr old watch as much telly as they want.

We have dd's age 6 and 11.

Week days are naturally limited as they go to afterschool.club/grandparents 4 days per week. No screens in the morning due to time constraints, and we watch and discuss joint programmes at dinner time.

Weekends we don't really have pre agreed limits. Again their activities limit it, but i don't mind them chilling with screens in the weekend mornings. I'll give them a nudge if they've been on too long, and they have to finish straight away without fuss or loose the ipad for the ready of the day. Apart from first thing, they rarely passively watch - they prefer stuff like drawing tutorials etc.

6 year old is not allowed YouTube unsupervised but dd11 is, all screens are in communal.areas of the home.

I prefer her on minecraft (on her own) at least she genuinely learns stuff on it.

Probably the other thing that makes it easier is that I don’t really watch TV myself; I don’t think I’ve watched it since Christmas day. I put my phone in the kitchen drawer when the children are home and downstairs so they only really see me with a book.

I have twins, 8yrs old. One will do 1.5hrs of TV or Switch before school because he gets up at 6am without fail. The other probably does 45 mins. After school they probably both have an hour of TV, Switch and ‘bonus’ iPad time only if they do their maths homework. Weekends are mixed depending on what we’re doing. Could be an hour, could be three.

I don’t allow YouTube, Fortnite or Roblox. They play the Switch together a lot of the time – Super Mario, etc, Minecraft Creative Mode.

10 year olds.

Screen time is a privilege that is earned. If they want more of it, they earn it! They can therefore do music practice, helping me out, doing their homework, reading, language learning, sports etc... to earn screen time. The idea is that it is very balanced.

So if they want 4 hours gaming, then that's at least 4 hours of other stuff!

Their tablets are on Family Link, so they can access Spotify and Duolingo and a maths app, then I will add an appropriate amount of time as a treat if they have done other stuff. No YouTube. They mostly play Minecraft so it is creative. Or a rocket launching game on my PC.

As a teacher I am so bored of parents who give their kids unlimited screen time. Kids lose the ability to think for themselves and then can't even manage a simple "you try" task. They can only do stuff in quick response. Screen Zombies.

Mines 7. Far more than I’d like. TV goes on once ready for school for maybe half an hour max. As soon as she’s home from school she’s on the iPad for an hour or so then maybe a bit of TV, though to be fair she doesn’t get home from school til 6pm twice a week and 5 another day so it’s less then. Weekends if I haven’t planned lots it just turns in to hours of TV and iPad which I hate, but I find it so draining constantly coming up with outings and activities to avoid it.

She does do a lot of imaginative play, is reading years ahead of where she should be and iPad games are very carefully controlled (no social media etc) so its not horrendous what she’s doing but it’s still too much IMO.

6yo: no screens before school. No tablet during the week (it turns her in to a demon child!) limited to 2 hours a day on a weekend. Sometimes watches TV but no more than about an hour a day.

10yo (step daughter) : phone for several hours after school, also watches a lot of TV.

5 & 3
They get tv in the mornings often, a 20 minute show each between breakfast and getting dressed, which allows me to get ready.
Then it really depends, on a rainy day they might watch two entire movies, on a sunny day they’re in the garden from dawn to dusk and aren’t fussed.
I don’t have an arbitrary daily limit because all days have different needs.
But I am strict on things like phones and iPads, they don’t watch our phones and will not be using an ipad at home for years yet.

8 yr old boy. Likely autistic and ADHD (being assessed) mainstream school etc, loves gaming. Always has a game on the go. Currently has a tablet game he's obsessed with and animal crossing and Zelda on the switch. Today he played his tablet game for 10 minutes while I made breakfast. He goes to school then after school sports and gets home at 6, he's had maybe an hour of that total including before and after dinner. Devices go off at 8 for bedtime routine. He's not a TV watcher but does like movies at the cinema.

4 yr old girl, not a big screentime fan, has a barbie gave she likes on my phone, does like a wee Netflix show called wonderoos and likes gabbys dollhouse and Sylvania families but more interested in the toys than the shows. Maybe an hour a day in short stints.

We don't limit screentime other than by having other, more interesting activities and a night time cut off (and a no screens before 6am when we had spates of early rising but rarely needed now) also no Roblox or online games, no chat functions, no unsupervised YouTube. Unsupervised Disney plus and Netflix are allowed for eldest though as he can only access specific shows.

I think it's all balance

My children are grown up, however we have 2yo DGS. He’s not allowed regular screen time. He’s allowed to watch the adaptations of the Julia Donaldson books very occasionally for example if he’s poorly or if it’s raining and they can’t play out. It’s not even a weekly thing.

They’ve never had an iPad or been on a phone and I don’t intend to start that anytime soon. They watch the football with their dad and the occasional film with us, but they’ve never watched any children’s television. They’re also allowed to watch Gladiators on a Saturday. However, I’m a SAHM with all the time in the world to entertain them, neither have SEN and because they have never had it, they don’t know what they’re missing. I struggled much more with my eldest because I let him go on my phone and watch kids TV, so I’m much stricter with my two youngest now.

Why say your rule is 1 hour when it’s an hour plus an entire movie though?

Mine are 8 and 10. They get 40 mins on iPad before school- they mostly use this to use Netflix while eating cereal etc.
After school they earn screen time by doing their homework/reading so amount they get depends on how quickly they get on with it! Can be up to 2 hours more on depending on day of week. Ipads/switch/computer all turn off at 6:30pm (7:00 on Friday and Saturday) and from then it’s play time or sometimes something on tv together depends how tired they are.
Weekends they can have whatever from wake up until around 9:00 then screens off until 4pm. Same in the holidays.
So a heavy screen week day could be 2hrs 40 mins and weekend could be 4 hours a day- so I think we’re quite lax there. Where I’m strict is- no Roblox, no Fortnite, no YouTube and generally we try to keep to closed systems- they don’t have open access to the web, only pre approved websites and we prefer to pay for games with no ads or buy switch games rather than rubbish iPad games with paid for in game content.

7 year old: 1 to 1.5 hours TV per day. Occasional iPad use but mainly to listen to podcasts and sometimes draw on it or use a programming game like Scratch. She’s also got into solitaire!

No to YouTube, I’d rather she was watching full length films than that.

I accept that it’s only going to get more difficult as we have less control - at a recent playdate they apparently just played Super Mario for 3 hours…

Very similar here too for my 7 and 5 year olds, though it’s probably more like 2 hours on each of Saturday and Sunday.

They don’t own their own devices, they don’t use the computer or play games and tbh I think most of their friends (London if makes a difference) are the same.