Screen time. Be honest.

[Letsbekindplease]

I’ve looked at a few threads but they were all quite old.

I was wondering how much screen time your kids have ?

I have two kids age 1 and 4 and honestly, the tv is never off. It’s me more than them and just down to pure habit.

I wouldn’t say my son plays his tablet that often. Maybe 1 hour every couple days. but the tv is never off. I don’t restrict it.
we do get out. I do try and do wee craft things. Is this bad? My friend seemed horrified the other day!

id say my 4 year old is a smart wee boy but painfully shy.

just wondering what everyone else is doing screen time wise.

it lets me get work done if I’m honest lol

I agree with the poster upthread who said that if your kids are in daycare all day, then it's way easier to have zero screen time. If you're a SAHM you need more of a break - or time and space to do chores (cooking, cleaning up mess, that one admin email you really need to send ...) so are more likely to lean on screens. Kids are 1, 3 & 6. The 3 & 6 yo watch 1 hour of TV after school each day. Not ideal but they are home at 4pm and we do a lot together too - reading and drawing and homework. 1yo is not interested in TV (yet!). We have 1 ipad between the whole family and subscribe to an App which has lots of word and number games on it. Personally I don't like the ipad and will never give it to the children. I feel it's less of a shared experience than TV and more addictive. I like the 80s vibe of TV (nostalgia of watching shows with my siblings). Husband on the other hand thinks the ipad games are educational & therefore better than the TV, which is more passive.

On the weekend they watch less TV - sometimes 45 minutes before dinner, sometimes there is no TV as we are always out and about.

Honestly, yes I think it's bad and yes I would moderate it. It should be controlled and kept to a minimum. We only have one child and appreciate it probably ramps up when you have more than 1, but she doesn't watch any at home. We don't own a tablet so that's not an option and I've never let her watch anything on my phone as I didn't want to start the habit. She does watch 10 mins tv occasionally when she's at my mums. There is really good evidence regarding the damaging effects it has on children's development, mood, sleep, behaviour short and long term, hence why there is guidance recommending moderation. I would break the habit if you can and come up with a routine that limits use to only a set amount at a set time of the day.

I hardly ever have the tv on during the day.
Hardly ever in the morning and sometimes in the afternoon.

My dc are older but Ive always pushed the message that screen time is downtime after you've done everything else you've need to do.

Mornings were spent going out usually. Come home, play or do some arts or crafts, books then watch tv while I do dinner.

Then help with tidy up, then more tv relaxing before bed.

This has pretty much stuck and dc often go out, help with chores and do homework before they put screens on. (Not phones though. They're checked constantly throughout the day!)

Probably get slated for this but we have the tv on whenever we feel it’s needed.
usually an hour in the morning (2 on weekends) and same thing in that afternoon/evening bit when me and my partner are tired or I’m prepping his dinner. We also pop something on my phone when on long train/bus journeys. He’s an impatient child and I think 10 minutes to stop him getting restless and screaming in front of everyone is ok.
my 19 month old goes to nursery every day and we make a really big effort to take him out both days of the weekend. We take him to all sorts of lovely places and sessions where he can learn and interact with others.
many times we don’t turn it on and play with him and read books together in the evening but it’s just the two of us and after a full week of work and an intense weekend, an hour to sit on the sofa with some cbeebies is really needed because we don’t have family close by to take him for an hour or two.
I think it’s all about balance. As long as you also make time to do things together, tv is not an issue.

VisionsOfSplendour

I'm sure your oh so clever children will be able to explain to you that individually different outcomes don't mean that at a population level something doesn't hold
**
Both things can be valid

Yes, they are clever. Seems to upset you, why? Another explanation could be that it’s parenting that influences outcomes, not tv?

Wow. Didn’t expect so many replies. Reading through the rest soon.

thanks for all that. I do feel slightly better

I should have said that even though it’s on Most of the day if we’re in, we’re also playing, baking. We go outside. They’re not sitting with square eyes staring at the screen.
we play outside. Enjoy walks, they go to nursery etc. I think after reading the replies we do have a good balance.
I also do think that life can be hard enough sometimes. If I need to get some cleaning or cooking some then I won’t hesitate on putting the tv on.

what I will take away from this is making an effort to cut back a little bit. Chores can wait. So thanks 😊

When my dc were younger they'd spend maybe an hour a day on a tablet.

We bought my dd a phone when she went to secondary school and for the first few years we installed an app that only gave her a few hours a day. Now she's 16 she gets unlimited access, and has for the last year or so, and tbh I'm genuinely worried about how she will function in the real world.

We live rurally but she hardly ever asks to see her friends, even though we offer to take her all the time. Her entire friendships seem to be online, I just feel she's missing out on so much social interaction. But when I speak to other mums they say the same thing. The only saving grace is that she has a hobby which is physical and outside with other children. If it wasn't for this I think she'd just spend all her free time in her bedroom on the phone

My nearly 2yr old and 5yr old get tv in the mornings whilst we get ready as it means I can grab a quick shower and tidy up. They get it again about half 4ish so I can get dinner started and tidy up again.. I don’t really restrict it though and if we are having a lazy day at home then they can have some cartoons on and chill 🤷‍♀️ I’ve always got the radio on for background noise when the tv isn’t being used.

Zero screen time but she’s only 10 months old

It does depend on what they watch. My dc loved all the Deadly 60, wildlife type of programmes. Horrible histories too.
This evolved into them enjoying wildlife documentaries and then having an interest in the world around them.
As teenagers, they're very interested in politics, geography, climate and so on.

I should have said that even though it’s on Most of the day if we’re in, we’re also playing, baking. We go outside. They’re not sitting with square eyes staring at the screen.

If they're not watching it then I really would try and turn it off. I appreciate you're doing other activities, but if you like background noise why not try having the radio on, or music?

In that case turn it off while you're doing other things? Why would you want it on? If you need some background noise have a radio on quietly.

I have a 6 and 4yo. 6yo is on screens the majority of the time he’s at home unless I initiate an adult led activity. He happily goes out and does stuff out though. He has ASD so maybe that makes the difference.

4yo maybe 1-2 hours a day on a home day, less on an out day. Usually if she’s up first she’ll watch some YouTube and she chooses on and off tThough the day. She’s take or leave it about screens

I don’t restrict. Screens are not created equal. Hours of watching a TV show even a preschool TV show with great messages, is very different to watching a show, going on a reading App, playing Minecraft with a friend and then watching a nature documentary. Both might be four hours of ‘screen time’ but the learning and engagement is very different It’s why talking about limiting ‘screen time’ is ignorant. What is your kid actually doing on said screen? Some stuff I’d ban forever, some stuff is great in limited amounts and some stuff is so good and their ability to explore it is damaged by restrictions so that you want to allow lots of time for it, the way you wouldn’t interrupt an imaginary game in real life.

Depends on the day.

If we're stuck in and im struggling (pregnant with a toddler) it can be on and off most of the day.

DD would have me playing ALL day if she could. Sometimes i need some peace and quiet so on goes Bing.

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