I'm loving our limiting of electronics!

[Garga]

Until about a week and a half ago, I let the boys start in on their electronics at 5 pm and let them play on them throughout the evening until bed at 8:30. We'd stop to eat dinner together, but watch TV while we ate, but then the electronics were back out. Lots of screen time.

 

Weekends were filled with electronics, especially Sunday when DH and I crashed and they played.

 

I was getting seriously sick of it. I was on electronics too much, their dad was on them too much, they were on them too much. I love to read and yet wasn't reading anymore. The boys have never learned to love to read. They only do it when I make them each day for school. It broke my heart. And not-reading makes vocab, grammar, spelling, and writing so much harder to teach. If you read a lot, you start to pick that stuff up effortlessly.

 

So, last Monday I told them I would check my electronics at Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner but only for things that needed my response and then I'd be off the electronics and so would they. For playing, we all have to wait until after dinner and then we get 1/2 hour to play whenever we want between dinner and bed. But only 1/2 hour a day. (Well, I do go online after they're in bed for a bit to read the threads here...Shhhh.)

 

The boys groused a bit, but with all the Christmas excitement and Christmas stuff we've been doing in the evenings they haven't fought me on this as hard as they might.

 

And now! The benefits! My slightly overweight boy is running all around the house, getting exercise. They're playing elaborate make-believe games together. They go outside for 1-2 hours each afternoon. It's wondrous.

 

So when Mom-Mom said, "Should I get the boys a Wii U for Christmas?" it's a resounding NO. They have an old Wii, 2 ipads, and 2 3DSs. That's enough for only 30 minutes a day.

 

I haven't made rules yet for the weekends. I let them play a lot last weekend. I need to come up with some rules for weekends. Anyone have suggestions for weekend usage? I'm thinking unlimited time on Sunday (after church) when we all flop around too tired for anything else, and maybe 1.5 hours on Sat?

[Dory]

I allow screens Saturday morning because it allows me to sleep a little more without being disturbed by rambunctious play. After lunch time though, it's screens off and go play. Sunday they get to play on screens from after church until suppertime. It works great.

[violamama]

Yes! My boys ask "is today a tv day?" fairly often, but aren't all that bothered when the answer is "I don't think so." They get to watch a show in the afternoon about every 3rd day while their sister naps. We don't usually do any on weekends unless they come to a rehearsal (iPads) or we watch a football game.

 

I have to say there was a time when they were watching a little more (a half hour or so 5x a week when they were 4 and 6), but as they've gotten older and we've added school they love their free time to be truly their own. 

 

When we travel they sometimes end up watching more and playing with the iPads more. I notice that they are quicker to lose their tempers and just crankier in general then. Frankly, I am like that, too. 

 

I'm reading the first fiction book I've had made time for in years: Marilynne Robinson's Lila. It feels amazing. I think about the themes in it all day in a way that doesn't happen with audiobooks or web articles. My husband is even reading it. 

 

So, YES!

[IfIOnly]

Like

[happypamama]

We give 1.5 hours on each of the weekend days, 30 minutes during the week. They like long, epic games, and those just don't fit well into 30 minutes, but they can save them for the weekend.