What do you kids do after school?

[lenamama]

I'm kind of stuck in a horrible rut where the evenings my children have no activities they both end up glued to screens. My 6 year old is getting addicted to his games console and I need to draw a line as its all he ever talks about. My 8 year never has her phone out her hand! I try to suggest other things to do but they shrug them off and after a long day at work I admit I let them get on with it as I'm exhausted!

So my question is do you have a daily screen time limit? What activities do you do to fill your evenings?

There's no children in DTs class with a phone. That's ridiculous, take it off her.

Thanks for all the replies. I think I do have to just go cold turkey and get them back to playing with Lego etc.

I do realise I have been very lazy with policing their screen time hence the problem that now exists.

To be honest I need to spend less time on my phone too and other half is always on his or laptop so I realise they learn from us.

My 8 yo will be 9 next month tbf but most of her friends in her class have phones, I know its not an excuse but just fyi.

Well tonight is sure going to be a long one

@hopefulhalf cloud tables sound good, shall check that out.

My tip is break it down into "sessions" or periods. So 3:30-4:30 park. 4:30-5pm snack. 5-6pm reading/ homework/ craft. 6pm dinner. 6:30-7:30 board game. 7:30 bath. Something like that. It is dry here today I would personally try to have some outdoor time before dark.
Just remembered also took them roller blading after school sometimes.

DS was always "high needs" and needed very structured activities (or screen time) to be content.

Yr 11 now though I couldn't be more proud of him 😀

I don’t think all screen time is bad, it gives kids very important down time. All these activities and organised slots so kids never have any free time to be bored it decide what they want to do are also bad in my view. I’d just limit it - an hour per night then done. FWIW all kids in my DD’s classes (Y3 and Y5) have a device be that iPad or iPod so ok not the phone functionality but absolutely everything else. Same for friends who have kids in other schools to. I do think you get a certain type of person who comes to comment on these thread that is not necessarily reflective of the vast majority. People also hear phones and clutch their pearls but really most kids have access to most of the features of a phone bar the dialling out these days.

Ds -
Poo
Shout
Argue
Cry
Inhale snacks

Dd1 and 2
Get changed
Screen zombie while eating a snack and keep out of their brothers way
Chat to me/ homework /activity/ music practice/cook

We have for dd 6 and 10

Monday - they go to grandparents for tea

Tuesday- only free day so focus on homework, reading and getting jobs done

Wednesday - dd6 dancing and rainbows
Dd10 running club in am,
Hip hop and brownies

Thursday - both swimming

Friday - half day at school
Dd10 does parkour then roller
Skating

          Dd6 sometimes skates at the same      
          time or goes on the indoor scoot 
          ramps or we walk round the centre/
          get a hot chocolate at the same 
          time 

By the time we get home on Friday they can have all the screens they like before a usually busy weekend. They also play outside with the other kids in the street among all this

Dd6 does have a phone fwiw - it was given to her by her father , i'd never have dreamed of it. All dd10's friends had one by 9. However she doesn't use it any differently to a tablet and in actual fact it's far more portable for journeys so it's not really a big issue

I really don't think screen time is the devil. If that's how they relax and unwind, they deserve to enjoy it. so long as homework is done, behaviour is appropriate etc etc. After long days at school, (including after school club) and extra curricular activities (horseriding/gymnastics/beavers/Karate/dog walks/parties etc) what really is the harm in allowing them to choose how they spend their free time? Kids have such a busy and structured lives these days as it is.

I wonder its partly nostalgia that makes the modern lifestyle including screen time the "bad guy"?

Primary child
1x Football training
2x After school club till 6pm as I work
2x chill out after school- plays on iPad, watches films, Park in summer, plays with toys, helps me cook dinner etc

Mine are 7&8. They don't have daily tablet time or time on the PS4 (usually an hour or so 1x a week for that at the moment). They do watch TV a fair bit though, both after school and at the weekend. They play with each other quite a lot, they read, they go outside when it's dry enough. We go to the supermarket quite a lot too.

P.s you are not lazy! We have a lot of stuff to do as mums! It's more just doing what makes you happy as a family. As long as kids get excercise and play with other things too, screen times ok. It's like us watching the soaps or a netflix binge. It's important to have all things..
I don't see the point in phones at 8! They have enough pressure. But I haven't reached that point yet lol

@sillyofthevalley but the point is OPs kids are on computers and tablets at the exclusion of other things

School finishes at 4.30.

Monday+Wednesday athletics 6-7.
Tuesday have a friend round/go to a friend's.
Thursday park then home.
Friday I collect him and we hang out with other kids/parents, enjoy a beer or two in the main square while they run about with other kids, home by 8 ish or when we're too cold.

Weekends are free. We usually do a mix of dog walking, pool, big daytrip to the mountains with a picnic, out to a local beach town with huge promenade on our bikes, big park with scooter - usually all of these activuties with friends, sometimes just the three of us.

For downtime 8yo plays with Lego, Playmobil, trainset, makes cardboard box forts. We play boardgames every Saturday and Sunday night to unwind. He also plays Minecraft at the weekend (max 2 hours each day) and some time on my Kindle mostly watching unspeakable/moose on YouTube but never during the week.

Mine do lots of sport - football, cricket, netball, cross country, dance. They did beavers / cubs when they were younger but have given it up now.

No consoles, phones etc for.mine, found their behaviour worsened after using them and before, and also found they became incapable of learning how to entertain themselves. They do homework for 30 mins, watch some tv (tv hasn't seemed to affect their behaviour as long as it's not utter tripe), dinner is then anywhere between 4.30 and 5 and then they just go play/do arts and crafts/Lego etc until 6.15 when it's bathtime.

@00100001 I’d read the OP as being that the kids were on screens on the evenings when they didn’t have activities, meaning that they did have activities on other days

My oldest son (6) does:
Monday- ballet
Tuesday - tennis
Weds - acro
Thurs- beavers
Fri - street dance
Sat - swimming, ballet (again), contemporary dance and musical theatre.

Middle son (4)
Nothing in the week until Y1.
Sat - swimming

Youngest (1)
Music sessions and various daily play groups / swimming.

My son is only four, so I appreciate easier to manage.

We usually go to the park on the walk home from after school club and he’ll play for around half an hour. Once home I play with him for 20-30 minutes, usually something like lego. When I make dinner he usually plays.

I limit his screen time to 30 minutes a day monday to thursday, I don’t let him use my phone, he doesn’t have an ipad etc. I also watch tv with him so it isn’t a solitary thing.

No official clubs, but as he’s four he’s easy to entertain.

2x after school care
1x tea at granny's
1x sports lesson
1x nothing planned, chill with tv

I have no problem with DC vegging for a few nights. It's good to relax and switch off.

A phone for an 8yo is ridiculous though.

After school activities, play dates, soft play, out for dinner, to the shops, to town for hot chocolate or ice cream, the park, cinema, Bowling, to the library etc. I usually shop online but if I haven't put the order in or been able to get a delivery slot then we go to a big supermarket with a cafe or adjoining restaurant and have tea there and do the shop.

I don't think we ever come straight home I think we only did once in the winter term and that's because I was getting over flu.

Homework, reading, watching a movie or a documentary as a family, talking about current affairs (I know, but he shows an interest and usually sits in the kitchen while I'm making tea and washing up and we talk about what's been in the news that day! )

No games consoles (including iPad) on a school night and DS phone doesn't have games on so if he's on it it's because he's replying to messages/talking to his friends on WhatsApp.

He's trying to learn to solve a Rubik's cube as I'm typing this......

When we are home it's devices and TV though, interspersed with the occasional craft activity, board game or cake baking session.