How much screen time do you allow your kids.

[teawomen]

My DD is 8. An only child. Her iPad has been a god send when communicating with other friends and family. She loves that she can play games whilst talking to friends and has group chats (which are all monitored) everything is linked to my Phone so I know what’s going on. She cant download anything with lout permission.

And I know by worrying this makes me a good parent but I’m scared she’s becoming dependent. I mean what else is there to do. I give her 2 hours a day (when schools are open and lockdown isn’t a thing) and at the minute she has 4 sometimes 5 hours per day (doesn’t tend to use it all). Is it to much? I mean I interact with her and play real games (monopoly, cludeo ect) aswell.

Just some days I feel like a shit parent. Lock down has robbed us of our routines and I’m scared she will Actually become depend on bloody devices.

Way more than I wish at the moment.
11 yo - on screen for school 2 hours daily, exercise, shower than allowed 2 hours of games(mine craft) on his laptop
Weekends maybe 4 hours a day because of lockdown. Usually 2 hours limit.
6 yo much the same

Ps I think your DD’s limits sound fine for lockdown!

Give yourself a bit of a break. Playing games like monopoly is a good counter to on screen play.

There's no other way to access family, friends and education at the moment. Setting limits is difficult.

Way too much at the moment! But I know it's only temporary! School work is done in the morning then we go for a walk after lunch then it's tv or iPads/phones. I try and make sure after dinner we play cards or a board game but like I said it's only temporary.
I really wouldn't give yourself a hard time about it, it's difficult times and we just have to do what we can to get through it.

Think I just need to here it’s ok. I’ve always been the parent who worries about worrying of that makes sense lol.

I mean right now 10am in morning she’s on a group chat with her friends and they are all giggling and it makes me happy but then I think ‘really’ is this acceptable. But I know in my heart that laughter is a beautiful sound and she’s happy.

Ps then I do know some people who let there kids play without a screen time ban (which is fine each to their own) and think to myself I need to get a grip lol

At the moment - loads. I’ve stopped counting really. I’ll worry about it when we’re actually allowed to do other things.

Nearly all the time when awake. I'm drowning. I need to stay upright.

Loads, but only TV as we don't have games consoles. Online games eg on the CBBC website turn them into demons so we avoid. But they're watching hours of TV and films.

I feel you right there.

My friend and I had this same convo and she said. Imagine if this happened when we were kids.

No sky tv.
No video game
No internet
No iPad
Nothing

She knows I’m an over thinker and tells me straight. Get rid of the limit and stop worrying lol

I'm too embarrassed to admit how many hours in our house

Do what you need to do.

We have no screen time limits when school is closed or lockdown is happening. I work FT so what else can they do unsupervised? When things are open/weather is better there will be an incentive to get off screens.

@Chlordiazepoxide

Nearly all the time when awake. I'm drowning. I need to stay upright.

Us too ... don't feel so bad now

@yawnsvillex

I'm too embarrassed to admit how many hours in our house

Do what you need to do.

NEVER be embarrassed we all the same. Keeping our head above water.

Don't fret, OP. It really is about the content not the action of being on a tablet for so many hours. As a kid I could sit and watch cartoons for 4 hours easy and the tablets are no different. Don't beat yourself up for this as you are clearly doing a great job!

For us
DD6: 2 hours a day Monday to Friday, then 4 hours a day sat and sun. Although she will turn it off before then and tends to play SIMS 4 on PS4 as well at weekends
DD3: 1 hour max per day as she only likes the nursery rhymes and her learning or Peppa Pig app. Kinda the same for weekends again tbh. She's not fussed about it as much as her big sis.

I don’t set limits but do make sure they aren’t used every day. Usually the days they do use iPads/Xbox it is around an hour.
My dc are home ed all the time so I have been careful from the early days of not letting them sit mindlessly on screens as it is so easy to get stuck in the habit.

I think people who are now stuck at home with dc out of school need to do what they can to get through, it’s not forever,

Fuckin loads right one. How else are you meant to work!

Given yo counting for lockdown.

My 7yo for example is being SO good with her home school work. But a lot of that is screen based.

I try and rotate iPad/PC/TV so she can sit in different places. Generally it's a video and then work on paper. But sometimes it's online work.

But then after all that school work if she wants to FaceTime a friend or play Minecraft with friends online etc I'm not going to say "no not a screen" because it's her only option for socialising.

Or even if she wants to sit and play switch or watch a TV show. She deserves some time to do what she wants as is working very hard.

Since March 2020 as much as is needed to keep both sane

It's hard , my son has been on a new game on his wii since 7am will probably let him stay on it another hour then won't let him on again until after tea. But I know he will moan and moan and will literally be on count down all day waiting til screen time even thou I will be suggesting other things we can do , its exasperating. You are not alone.

Unlimited. Before lockdown I didn't really limit either though tbh as I found they regulated themselves and we are also pretty active so that naturally kept it under control. Try not to worry, it's tough times. I do insist they come off at least an hour or two before bedtime though.

I try to stick to about 2 hours a day during lockdown. That doesn’t include school or sports.
If they are talking to friends I think that’s a bit different but my children (6 and 9) don’t really do that yet.

I have to limit it as my children would watch it all day and all night if I let them.

It is so reassuring to hear about how much time (realistically) their children are on tech.

I am trying to make sure my ds go outside for exercise every day but ds1 is an autistic teenager and struggling so we do what we have to do!

I don’t put a time on it but Ds 11 has to get off and do other stuff otherwise he’d just stay on it