Screen time.

Lizrachal · 2023-02-25T18:56:53+00:00

Please be honest, no judgement how much screen time do your children get-iPads/TV. Thank you

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

AudreyJL · 26/02/2023 00:32

30 minutes to 1 hour a day (in intervals), whilst I chop and prep food but not daily. Some days DD gets less or none at all and on sick days, we tend to be not so strict with screen time

ILiveInSalemsLot · 26/02/2023 00:42

Loads but no gaming on weeknights and none til after 3 on weekends and holidays.
TV probably an hour or two a day on weeknights.
On weekends, they could have 1.5-2hrs of gaming followed by a film later for a couple of hours.
They also do most of there homework on the laptop.

LadyJ2023 · 26/02/2023 01:27

If the children are sick there's not usually a time limit...if a normal day they all get an hour after school and homework while I'm making tea and usually the 4 watch something together tbh

EdHelpPls · 26/02/2023 01:36

School nights none (except for schoolwork)
Fridays 1.5hrs. School holidays 45 mins a day but it often gets "saved up" for a few days. I try to have other fun activities more visible than screens and we get outside every day before screentime.

At their dads at weekends it appears to be screens almost every waking moment so I try to balance it out during the week.

I do see value in many games (like Minecraft for example) but there's also a ton of crap.

Adrelaxzz · 26/02/2023 02:05

Was age dependent.
0-2 nothing
3-10 about 7 hours a week (but 3 non screen days)
11 -13 about 1.5 hours a day (2 non screen days)
After 14 try and encourage less but to self manage.
Worked well for u

UpToMyElbowsInDiapers · 26/02/2023 02:07

DCs are 6/4/2. The older two watch 20 minutes in the evenings while we get the youngest ready for bed.

They have also recently started watching an extra 1-1.5 hours on weekends while the youngest naps.

brightare · 26/02/2023 02:24

What do your kids do the rest of the evening or weekend? Mine spend hours outside playing and Saturdays out etc but still spend way more time than others say on iPads.

autienotnaughty · 26/02/2023 02:43

My ds has asd and screens are important to him. He has about an hour on iPad a day (30 min in morning and 30 min evening) and 30-60 min on switch in evening (we play together) Tv about an hour after school. Weekends he has two x 30-60 min on switch and probably has about 3 hours on iPad over the day. Tv is maybe 2 hours. Tho he sometimes watch's tv on iPad. We also go out for walks, play games do soft play etc as he needs lots of stimulation.

addictedtotheflats · 26/02/2023 02:54

Too much judging by these replies🙈

Original poster

Lizrachal · 26/02/2023 07:36

Thank you everyone, I had a nasty accident last year so we’ve been on survival mode for the last year and they’ve been pretty much on screens/TV whenever they wasn’t at school.

Things are slowly getting better and I’m trying to break this now. We have been going out at the weekends again which is nice but whenever they are at home they are back on tv/tablets.

They squabble over the tv, they watch a lot of rubbish (older kids gaming etc) we think this is leading to a bit of bad behaviour. I wouldn’t mind if they watched a nice film on Netflix but they don’t.

We are now setting some time limits which isn’t going down well but hopefully they will get used to it as they never used to be on the screens this much.

They are 8 and 5.

OP posts:

Fundays12 · 26/02/2023 08:28

About 45 minutes on a school night and 1 hour each day on a sat/sun.

Kids are age 11,6 and 3. We do lots of outdoor activities like park visits, scooters etc. Learning time daily, reading, writing etc (oldest homework is on the Chromebook so he does get more time than his siblings due to this). Board games, free play, jigsaws, Lego, arts and crafts, garden play etc

chillipopcorn1 · 26/02/2023 08:55

6 year old here. No screen time at home in the week really (although I know they get half an hour on the iPad in after school club). At the weekends they watch an hour of cartoons in the morning and maybe a film all together in the afternoon. They don't have an iPad which makes a big difference - if they did they'd be glued to it and we would have major battles!
They are very crafty so spend a lot of time making things, listening to their Yoto, park, Lego or puzzles and board games.

chillipopcorn1 · 26/02/2023 08:57

PS. I'm a teacher and see a strong correlation between unlimited/unfiltered screen time at home and children who find it really challenging to then sit and focus on work/input for an extended time. They're so used to being fed exciting ever changing high interest content constantly. I do think that it's not just 'screen time' - it's quality. Anything on CBEEBIES for little ones is much better than eg. Cocomelon which is just awful

careerchange456 · 26/02/2023 09:08

chillipopcorn1 · 26/02/2023 08:57

PS. I'm a teacher and see a strong correlation between unlimited/unfiltered screen time at home and children who find it really challenging to then sit and focus on work/input for an extended time. They're so used to being fed exciting ever changing high interest content constantly. I do think that it's not just 'screen time' - it's quality. Anything on CBEEBIES for little ones is much better than eg. Cocomelon which is just awful

Yes, I agree 100%. You can spot the screen obsessed kids a mile off in my Year 1 class. You often see them as the ones who can't settle into playing because they don't know how to. Screens are so passive, playing with toys requires them to be proactive. So many kids completely lack these skills.

Also agree on quality of what they watch/play. Please put Numberblocks on for your 3-7 year olds if they're watching TV!!!! It's the most fabulous program for their maths understanding.

My kids are 6 & 7. On a weekend they watch about an hour morning and evening (iPlayer, Netflix, Disney+, parent controls on all of these). They do have access to a tablet which they're allowed for school stuff (TTRS and Numbots), they both love Duolingo as well. They do play on the tablets every so often but generally CBeebies. Tablets have full parental controls - definitely no access to YouTube etc. During the week they watch a bit before school and then up to an hour after school (not much time after getting home from wraparound care).

I may sound strict but I've seen too many negatives as a teacher.

careerchange456 · 26/02/2023 09:14

chillipopcorn1 · 26/02/2023 08:55

6 year old here. No screen time at home in the week really (although I know they get half an hour on the iPad in after school club). At the weekends they watch an hour of cartoons in the morning and maybe a film all together in the afternoon. They don't have an iPad which makes a big difference - if they did they'd be glued to it and we would have major battles!
They are very crafty so spend a lot of time making things, listening to their Yoto, park, Lego or puzzles and board games.

We also love the Yoto here. Can't recommended them enough to people if you're looking to something that isn't a screen!

CaveMum · 26/02/2023 09:37

My two (5 & 8) aren’t allowed any screens in the morning during the week, they’re slow enough at getting ready for school as it is!

The only exception to this is if DH is away for work and I’ll put CBBC on for 20 mins while I jump in the shower to stop them killing each other!

After school depends on activities and if DH is around. If we’ve got to go out for an activity then they will get the TV on for 20 mins while I make dinner, then we’re out and it’s straight upstairs to get ready for bed. Sometimes I’ll allow the non-activity child to bring their iPad while we wait for the activity to finish.

Weekends I’m more chilled out, they get their iPads for half an hour after breakfast. We have activities on Saturday mornings that take us up to lunchtime so they’re then allowed to watch Netfix/Disney/iPlayer for a few hours in the afternoon. Sundays vary depending on if we’re going out somewhere.

They have access to laptops (old ones that DH got from his work who offered them to employees for £1 each. They’re about 5 years old so no good to his work anymore, but perfectly good for what the kids do!). They use them to play games on Bitesize or DD likes to play around on Scratch. They get used in fits and starts, they haven’t asked to use them for weeks but this week have had them out twice.

I think a lot of parents don’t make the connection with screens and behaviour. One of DD’s friends (8) is allowed her tablet every morning before school (her mum told me this), yet her mum always complains that they are late leaving the house and they miss the gate cut off (school gates closed at 8.55 so anyone arriving after that has to go through the office) at least once a week. They only live a 10 min walk from school and she’s an only child so it’s not a chaotic household. I daren’t suggest that she stops the tablet usage to see if that improves things!

Oopswediditagain2023 · 26/02/2023 09:39

AudreyJL · 26/02/2023 00:32

30 minutes to 1 hour a day (in intervals), whilst I chop and prep food but not daily. Some days DD gets less or none at all and on sick days, we tend to be not so strict with screen time

Exactly same as this and that's TV - no iPad. We also have family movie nights if that counts?! 🤣

ILiveInSalemsLot · 26/02/2023 10:29

Op if you have the energy, go cold turkey on all screens for a week. Tell the dc that the plan is no screens for a week as it's not healthy to be on them too much.
Set up activities for them, take them out, get some toys out and start them off playing, join in with some art and crafts, get them baking, after a few days you'll see a huge difference.
Then see if you can introduce a 'movie night' make it exciting with popcorn and you all sit together and watch it.
I've done this after something similar and it's hard work for a few days but really worth it for the reset.

SouthLondonMum22 · 26/02/2023 12:02

He's just a baby right now so it's just as long as I'm getting ready in the mornings, usually something like cocomelon or Ms Rachel.

I'm sure it will increase as he gets older.

QuertyGirl · 26/02/2023 12:07

About 45 min on a weekday.

Maybe a couple of hours on a Saturday and Sunday max.

Trying to reduce it but it's hard work with only child and my ill health

Millenmc · 26/02/2023 12:17

I have an 18month old daughter and as a teacher I absolutely detest kids on Ipads/tablets or watching too much TV. I had planned to avoid screens completely until she was two but I've recently started letting her watch a couple of cartoons on Sunday mornings, usually Bluey or something in my other language. I've got to admit though, the last couple of days the two of us have been really ill and yesterday we spent most of the day watching Julia Donaldson films on BBC Iplayer.

I also have 2 SKs who live with us full time who are 6 and 11. I hate how much screen time they have, it's easily 2-4 hours a day (and non-stop when they go to see their mum). I'll discourage it as much as I can but I don't feel like I can be strict on it the way I would my own children, I just kind of follow their dad's lead.

Mumoffairy · 26/02/2023 12:33

It varies here. We have lots of screen free days, but when they do watch its often quite long (1.5-2h). Kids are 7 and 8.
I would say on average it works out to about 1h per day

Fundays12 · 27/02/2023 15:52

chillipopcorn1 · 26/02/2023 08:57

PS. I'm a teacher and see a strong correlation between unlimited/unfiltered screen time at home and children who find it really challenging to then sit and focus on work/input for an extended time. They're so used to being fed exciting ever changing high interest content constantly. I do think that it's not just 'screen time' - it's quality. Anything on CBEEBIES for little ones is much better than eg. Cocomelon which is just awful

Totally agree with this. I work with kids and have my own. You can tell kids who watch lots of TV or spend a lot of time on computer games. I also see a massive deterioration in my own kids behaviour and it impacts badly on there school learning when they use screen time too much particularly computer games and utube.

Treehouseofficial · 28/03/2023 20:29

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StopGrowingPlease · 28/03/2023 21:17

We don’t do set screen time and tv is pretty much always on as it feels too weird to sit in silence even if we’re talking 🤷‍♀️ This does mean that our toddler has lots of screen time but he also does loads of other things and we’re out almost every day so it evens out 🤷‍♀️

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