be honest how much screen time does your 13/14 year old have?

[Feellikedancingyeah]

Our DC is on his mobile watching you tube or Minecrafting about 10 hours a day. He has about 2 hours of exercise a day.
He doesn't watch any TV and has no game console

I’m intrigued about this extra study time. Are your kids at a state school? I don’t know any that are giving even a full day’s lessons, never mind hw as well.

I have a nearly 13 year old. Weekdays, he does school work 9am - 1pm then after that it's computer games all the way til 10:30pm , except coming down for meals. There's not a wide choice of alternatives for him , at his age in lockdown.

My 18 year old has no school work but appears to have self regulated over the years and 'only' spends about 4 hours a day on computer games in lockdown. It's easier for him to do other stuff because he can come and go as he pleases.

Aramox - yes, state school. DD is set work in line with the lessons on her usual timetable. Teacher is normally contactable on Teams during the timetabled lesson. DD is very self motivated and hard on herself, so she probably actually spends longer on the work than she's expected to. Plus she's conscious that she's going to need to revise this stuff for GCSE at some point (Year 9, but 3 year KS4) so spends a lot of time getting her notes "perfect". Others in her year group are not doing much as they are struggling with effectively self teaching.

12yo DS is doing all the work set him & it still only takes 1-2.5 hours/day.

@aramox

My D.C. are all at grammars and thankfully have mostly full timetables online (obviously not for things like PE). They are also given homework that has to be completed and submitted.

In terms of their extra study time, we expect them to revise the content they've learned that day, look back over their classes from earlier in the year, do extra reading around their subjects and do practice questions (past papers for the eldest two).

Me and DH believe it is really important that DC learn how to revise from an early stage rather than just expecting to learn overnight instead year 11. It's also really important that they develop a really strong work ethic and a disciplined attitude towards study.

Particularly as DS2 and DS3 have important exams next year, we feel it's important that they continue working hard while schools are closed.

My 13 year old has google family time on her mobile which locks it to an hour a day. I add more now and then, especially if she needs to send work to school or is actually talking with other people rather than just using it as a music player (she has a separate one for that).

She uses the computer for most of her school work, as long as it takes, though it is password locked and it's connected to a TV and has to be shared with her two younger siblings.

After they finish lessons - or they're all down on other days - they each pick one show to watch. If they're not all down by 8:30 on weekends, my 13yo (who has always been a lark) can use it to listen to music while she waits.

In the afternoon, they usually get an hour of video game time and in the evening we often watch or play things together though for part of that she's often upstairs dancing.

So, it varies wildly by day, but it's at least a good few hours.

No restrictions here, I think the divide between screen time and other time is artificial and weird. Especially in lockdown where all our socialising has had to be on screens too! What makes screen based hobbies/occupations automatically inferior and requiring permission? Do your children have to ask permission to read a book or play football?

Ds has always cycled around a series of interests, some screen related, some not, since he was a young child. He gets into something, does it obsessively for a few months, then moves on and returns to it again at a later date! It's a bit weird, but it does mean he's always been able to happily occupy himself.

He restarted gaming at the beginning of lockdown so he's done a lot of that the last three months, loads of hours per day, alongside indoor fitness training. However, he's just moving on to playing the piano now and going out on his bike - he fixed his bike with his dad yesterday. To me these are all just interests of his - I don't particularly favour one over another just because it doesn't involve a screen. Gaming is very good for socialising and building relationships with his friends, also for hand-eye coordination and strategy. Cycling is good for fitness etc etc. Piano is a great skill too and enjoyable.

Screens can be used for so many different things - learning, socialising, playing games, reading. Why automatically restrict these things because they happen to be done through a screen? Ds watches quite a bit of youtube, but he learns loads that way. His general knowledge is way better than dd's who doesn't have a youtube habit!

Too much. It's more restricted usually but seems unfair to be too harsh at the moment with no school, clubs etc.
Maybe 2-3 hours PlayStation, some TV with us in the evening, on and off of phone - YouTube, Instagram etc for most of the day apart from when working, and it's nearly the end of term now so there's not a lot of school work appearing.

Too much. It's more restricted usually but seems unfair to be too harsh at the moment with no school, clubs etc.
Maybe 2-3 hours PlayStation, some TV with us in the evening, on and off of phone - YouTube, Instagram etc for most of the day apart from when working, and it's nearly the end of term now so there's not a lot of school work appearing.

I remain gobsmacked @fishyduck. I believe all those things too but no power on earth would induce my kid (also at a grammar) to do any extra work, practice questions etc. Many of his peers are doing even less. No parents I know could get their kids to work like that! I guess they, and we, are all different.

I'm not restricting my DS's screen time, as I would like them to be self-regulating by the time they leave for University and find their own equilibrium (guess who's been helping out with Chemistry homework this morning?!).

They're on it a lot. But so long as they get their school work done to a good (for them) standard, do their household chores without moaning, and get some exercise every day, then I think it's fair enough.

Like a pp said, DS1 tends to cycle through phases. Before lockdown I hadn't seen him play his PS4 for a while, but he was on it a lot at the start, now he's playing on the PC instead. He's big into YouTube too, and makes a video each week. To facitate this, I have just got him Adobe Creative Suite, and once he's learned how to use it I'm going to hire him for the summer holidays to help with my business, to make up for missing work experience week at school.

DS2 has a good set of friends, and given half the chance, he's out playing with them. He also likes baking and making clothes, but you can't spend all day every day on those so then it's back to the screen... Minecraft and Fortnite online with friends or god-awful YouTube videos.

There is such a big generation gap between us thanks to the Information Age. I admit I sometimes freak out about screen time, but I remind myself that it's their normal in a way that it will never be for us.

Me and DH believe it is really important that DC learn how to revise from an early stage rather than just expecting to learn overnight instead year 11. It's also really important that they develop a really strong work ethic and a disciplined attitude towards study.

Is that because you didn't? Otherwise I don't see how you could write "Me and DH believe ..."

For those who restrict screen time - how do you do it without the tantrums?

10 hrs here too with 12 yr old DS. We had 6 months of nightly battles getting phone downstairs which we won. Did school work but bounces from PS4, phone to laptop. Has hacked router, changed accounts for restrictions and cannot physically get phone off him without a fight. Soul destroying and nearly broke up family. Only way he really chats to friends so what can I do? He hates exercise and has no hobbies despite our every effort to engage him. He’s a lovely funny boy but has an addiction to screens and we are so fed up with it. At least he does school work I suppose.

Mine are doing school work online so a lot of screen time there, they watch tv and films, arse around on YouTube and play Xbox so probably about 7-8 hrs a day?
Most of the screen time I don’t mind but I do remind them to watch their gaming time as that tends to cause issues for them.
They’re also doing other things too like bike rides, they’ll come for walks with me and they’ll have a kick about in the garden or a water fight.

As long as they’re still doing other things and engaging with the family, I think that’s fine.

Wow @FishyDuck you are super strict. Glad it works for you and your kids, but I do find it a bit odd that they have to ask for screen time. It seems quite controlling. But I'm not criticising if it works for you all and you're all happy about it.