Can I ask what your screen time rules are for 9 year olds.

[HeadFairy]

How much screen time would you allow an9 year old? Do they have to earn it and if so what do they have to do to get it, or is it just general good behaviour?

I allow my son who is 9 up to 30 mins after school in the week but some days he goes straight to a club and has no screen time, and then he is allowed to have his kindle on a Friday and Saturday evening , he normally watches things on th iplayer from CBBC. He's not into games really apart from a Lego one. He spends most of his time outside in the garden playing with neighbours or with siblings.

If there is bad behaviour he doesn't get his kindle at all for the weekend, he is accepting of this and know the limits!

I let my daughter spend 4 hours max on the internet per day. We are using an app called Soanjo to set screen time limit. The app is only available on Android. Do you have an Android phone?

We don't have screen time rules for our 7 and 9 year old. They don't have TVs in their bedrooms and aren't allowed to take their tablets upstairs, but they can use them whenever they like at home. They probably spend about an hour a day on their tablets on average, maybe a bit more on a wet winter Sunday.

I think that anything is less desirable when it's unrestricted to be honest. dd1 has a friend who is restricted to half an hour of TV or tablet a day and whenever she comes over the first thing she does is demand dds tablet and then sulk for the whole two hours she's here when I say no.

My DD is 9. We don't have any rules as such, but she doesn't have her own phone and she has to share a tablet with her two brothers. Also she's quite busy - after school club on the days I work, swimming, tennis etc. So that limits screen time in a 'natural' way.

DO NOT MAKE SCREEN TIME A REWARD. This increases the amount of dopamine released by the brain and causes addiction to the internet and use of phones etc.

I have no gaming in the week as it affects their moods.
Laptops for hw is ok as is some tv after dinner.
Ds1(12) is allowed half an hr a day to check messages on phone.

DS (10) has aspergers and is obsessed with his computer (DD is better but at 12 still uses it a lot) so on weekdays they aren't allowed to use it until 6pm. They aren't restricted at weekends or in holidays but we are out and about a fair bit so that stops them using it to a silly level. They do a lot of pretty constructive stuff with them though (programming, graphics etc) so it doesn't bother me too much when they use them for a few hours in a row. DH works in the IT industry and thinks it is important that they learned to code early on. They have done some coding clubs and we now run a free monthly session at our local library for kids to learn or improve their coding skills. The kids are leagues ahead of their classmates when it comes to IT skills. My point being that computers aren't the devil and can be put to good use. Scratch is a great program to get them started and it's fun to learn.

There is no official rules for screen time with my 9 year old other than homework and chores etc must be done first, not in the bedroom, not at the dinner table and not outside the house. (There are reasonable exceptions to those rules though like when the toddler is being a pain or if we are travelling) We are always out and about so it never gets to a silly level. On the rare occasion when I think he's had too much I will give him a choice of some other activities to do, and he actually complies!

My 8 and 10 year old have 15 mins a day each. If I just left them to it they would spend all their time on their devices.

They are allowed on screen 4 days a week, probably an hour pr so scjool days, more at weekends. They pick the days. I get NO requests on the days they dont use it, because they have chosen not to have that day!! It's one of the best parenting ideas I ever had. ps Family movie night doesnt count!

Need to spell/grammar check next time

I don't monitor the amount of screen time as I know some days he is barely on it, other days on it loads so it evens out.

The two rules we do have are you must come off any screen happy or you don't get it again that day and no screens until something that needs to be done is completed (eat food, get dressed, homework etc). My belief is they need to develop self control therefore they need to have good and bad days with it.

'15 minutes a day'

We believe you

We don't have any rules or limits.

I don't really recognise the notion that they'd spend all day on them.

We don't as a family watch TV before school/work and the same applies to devices. It isn't a rule though, just a family habit.

Homework and music practice etc has to be done before any form of entertainment but they play out/read/play games or toys as much as they use screens. Even then they are more likely to play a game together on the PlayStation or watch a TV program than watch YouTube or surf.

We don't use it as either punishment or reward. It's just a tool.

Weekends only for iPads / Playstation. We try to be outdoors mostly so it's naturally self-limiting.

TV only in the afternoons between school and dinner. Some days that means none at all if they have activities etc. We wouldn't have time in the mornings anyway, with breakfast, getting dressed, brushing teeth, looking for homework etc.

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:

My 8,10 and 12 year old have an hour limit on their tablets on weekdays (via an app) and 2 at weekends. This excludes kindle books and listening to music. Then they have a Nintendo switch which starts bleeping after an hour but at weekends we sometimes let them play longer especially if they are doing Just Dance so getting exercise and interacting together. They don't watch TV much, maybe a few hours a week, sometimes a film at the weekend.