Summer screen time restrictions

[Katy]

Hey everyone, I'm trying to get some data for a kiddo who thinks sitting around all day watching cartoons is acceptable.  Even though it's not acceptable here (and won't be regardless of the results of this poll), please explain honestly your policies for non-school weekdays off.

 

My current policy:

 

After age-appropriate chores, breakfast, and an hour of 3-R's activities they can watch 1 episode of something.  If they work really fast on chores, possibly 2 episodes.  After that we find something else to do, go to the Y, go to story time at the library, run errands, or go to swimming lessons.  On the days when the local movie theater has a cheap morning kid's movie, we skip screen time for that.

 

After lunch, we go to the pool if the weather is nice.

 

In the afternoon we have afternoon chores, after which they get another episode of TV time.

 

After dinner at the table, we typically watch ANOTHER family friendly tv show or movie.   ETA:  if it's hot.  If the weather is nice, we walk to our favorite playground.

 

I should note:  we don't have cable, and we pay premium for commercial-free programming like Hulu, Netflix, CBS now, etc.  There is a delay, but no commercials, so typically their tv show episodes are about 20 minutes each.  It ranges from 18-22. So they get about an hour a day on days we choose a tv show after dinner, and maybe 2 hours on the days we choose a movie after dinner.  Less if the weather is nice.

 

We do have a tv system in one car, but we don't use it unless it's a very long trip (more than 2 hours).

 

Apparently this is extremely unfair.

Edited June 8, 2017 by Katy

[Wilma]

I dodge the issue by not having the TV/movies option. We just don't own the stuff to do that. Obvs we do have a computer that's hooked up to the Internet, but besides the 12 year old doing typing.com and finding recipes, there's not much draw.

[TheReader]

You don't say the ages of your kids, mine certainly got less when they were younger. 

 

Lately, we allow them to more or less self-regulate. It's worked well thus far, none of them are of the addictive personality sort, and we monitor *what* they do, but not really how much other than to sometimes determine it's time for a break, which they'll gladly take. 

 

They are content when we're out away from screens, have plenty of other hobbies, aren't athletic, but are cooperative with the screens. Most of their screen time is active, not passive (games vs. TV shows), and the 3 boys usually play together, usually creating their own games to play (they give each other build challenges in Minecraft, or build Adventure Maps together in Minecraft, or fill-in-the-blank with some other thing they come up with on their own to all do together), so it feels more like boys playing together than it does kids zoning out in front of a screen. 

 

If it were TV shows, or passive watching, or each kid off zoning out doing his own thing, or resulted in any negative behavior or attitude, or anything like that, we would revisit the rules but the way it happens in our house works for us.

 

TV watching is usually only a family thing, we record shows and watch them in the evenings all together as a family. The exception is that I will watch something myself while folding laundry, and the youngest will watch cartoons while waking up and waiting on the older boys to get up (the youngest gets up very early). We watch movies on Friday or Saturday nights. 

[Sneezyone]

We have a busy summer planned. With their 8 weeks of vacation...

 

2- we will be out of the country

2- DD will attend 1/2 day robotics camp

2- both kids will do 3x week swimming lessons

 

Throughout the whole thing, they are responsible for 60 min/30 min of daily reading and 30-60 minutes of review or instruction (DD has a math/French emphasis, DS is working on word problems and spelling).

 

In addition to that, DD will be doing a field trip w/her teen group once or twice a week (water park, indoor skydiving, etc).

 

My kids will be BUUUUUSSSSYYYY!! I don't think it's necessary to further limit their screen time because they will have so many other things that take up time in their day and keep them out of the house.

Edited June 8, 2017 by Sneezyone

[Katy]

Kid who wants more screen time is a new foster child, age 7.  I'm under the impression the mother just parked them in front of the TV all day.  Other kids here are more interested in parks, swimming, and toys.

[Sneezyone]

Kid who wants more screen time is a new foster child, age 7. I'm under the impression the mother just parked them in front of the TV all day. Other kids here are more interested in parks, swimming, and toys.

Ahh, I expect that child needs some time to detox. Complaints during that time are to be expected. Ignore and carry on, lol.

[TheReader]

Kid who wants more screen time is a new foster child, age 7.  I'm under the impression the mother just parked them in front of the TV all day.  Other kids here are more interested in parks, swimming, and toys.

 

In that case, keep up the rules; it will just take a little while for the 7 yr old to "detox" as it were from the screens and learn new habits, learn how to play, etc. You might have to be more hands-on with playtime, introduce some structured play (board games, play dough, etc), things like that while the 7 yr old remembers/relearns/figures out how to play and entertain his or her self, or play with the other kids. 

 

I imagine once he or she has adjusted, things will be easier. 

[AmandaVT]

DS can do 1 hr of games in the morning. Mario Kart, Wii Fit on the Wii or Tetris or Stack the States/Countries on his iPad is what he typically picks. 

 

In the afternoon, he usually watches a show and then we like to watch Jeopardy as a family after dinner. 

 

Saturdays he does a bit more as DH is home and likes to play games with him. Sundays, we recently started having a screen-free day. No TV, games or devices for all of us (including DH and I). 

[Rebel Yell]

Ahhh the new foster is a different category.

We don't limit, my my children are much older: 22, 17 (graduate) and 15. They use their phones to text throughout the day, even during school times. but they are also all very active, don't text while at paid employment or outside classes and activities.

[Sarah CB]

When they were little, screen time wasn't an issue. Once it became an issue, we had a few screen free summers. The rule was that if it was raining *and* it was a weekend then they could play video games. 

 

Things fell apart once they had their own personal devices and hit the teen years. 

[catz]

Ahh, I expect that child needs some time to detox. Complaints during that time are to be expected. Ignore and carry on, lol.

 

:iagree: Expect it to be hard for at least 2-3 weeks.  Then it will start to become normal habit.

[nixpix5]

We do minimal screen time. It probably averages 30 minutes or less per day but it isn't every day. It consists of only watching a show or a movie with the family. We are a zero video game family so summer is neither here nor there with that. On rainy days my kids love to play board games with each other, read books (sometimes outloud to each other which is so cute :) or they will build legos, playmobil etc. I have never once heard the word "bored" or "I don't know what to do" from these three. I did hear it constantly with my two oldest who were allowed screen time/video games without restrictions. With them I remember going to the coast when they were teens and they hauled the Xbox along. Those two acted like we were torturing them if we made them go out on the sand haha. What a pain it was. Hence my conservative approach now.

[Sherry in OH]

My general policy is no screens before 4 pm and then only if daily tasks have been completed.  i prefer that they not spend more than 2 hours at a time on screens, but this rule is somewhat relaxed on rainy days.  

[Miss Tick]

We have a few days that are completely screen free. On the other days finish school work and chores and lunch and then you can self-regulate.

 

My goal was to minimize my involvement and decision making.

[Arcadia]

Kid who wants more screen time is a new foster child, age 7. I'm under the impression the mother just parked them in front of the TV all day. Other kids here are more interested in parks, swimming, and toys.

My kids like watching PBSkids for an hour or two at that age so it may not be because of fostering. NOVA ScienceNow is usually an hour. Wild Kratts and Cyberchase were back to back so about an hour too.

 

My kids don't do parks at certain time of the year because of allergies. Like yesterday my DS11 started sneezing like crazy when we went to a library we haven't been to for awhile. It is the flowers or shrubs outside that he is sensitive to since he was sneezing while waiting for the library to be opened.

 

DS12 has never liked swimming and we forced swimming lessons on him. He would rather do academic work then swim. He is the kid that brings his textbooks or workbook to the pool and do work while DS11 swims. He even brings his books to the park. So siblings but one is active while one has his nose in a book whether it is reading or studying.

 

We don't have a limit on screen time at that age but my kids have to get my approval for TV and gaming. So more of content than duration.

[KatieJ]

My sons earned screen time by reading. They got one hour of screen time for every two hours of reading or summer math review .

[MysteryJen]

Summer is consumed by athletic training here. When they are off, they need to rest and decompress. So screen time is fine with me. Everyone is required to do some reading this year, so they are getting that done.

 

When they were little, we headed out of the house as much as possible and that naturally limited screen time.

[wendyroo]

Hey everyone, I'm trying to get some data for a kiddo who thinks sitting around all day watching cartoons is acceptable.  Even though it's not acceptable here (and won't be regardless of the results of this poll), please explain honestly your policies for non-school weekdays off.

 

My current policy:

 

After age-appropriate chores, breakfast, and an hour of 3-R's activities they can watch 1 episode of something.  If they work really fast on chores, possibly 2 episodes.  After that we find something else to do, go to the Y, go to story time at the library, run errands, or go to swimming lessons.  On the days when the local movie theater has a cheap morning kid's movie, we skip screen time for that.

 

After lunch, we go to the pool if the weather is nice.

 

In the afternoon we have afternoon chores, after which they get another episode of TV time.

 

After dinner at the table, we typically watch ANOTHER family friendly tv show or movie.   ETA:  if it's hot.  If the weather is nice, we walk to our favorite playground.

 

I should note:  we don't have cable, and we pay premium for commercial-free programming like Hulu, Netflix, CBS now, etc.  There is a delay, but no commercials, so typically their tv show episodes are about 20 minutes each.  It ranges from 18-22. So they get about an hour a day on days we choose a tv show after dinner, and maybe 2 hours on the days we choose a movie after dinner.  Less if the weather is nice.

 

We do have a tv system in one car, but we don't use it unless it's a very long trip (more than 2 hours).

 

Apparently this is extremely unfair.

 

For my kids, that many transitions would be the hard part.  Their brains just don't chance gears that quickly, and they have a very tenuous grasp on the passage of time.  Twenty minutes of TV would be over in a blink, and instead of accurately remembering how many shows they watched on a given day, all they would remember is that over and over they were told the TV had to go off.

 

Wendy

[goldberry]

What worked really well when DD was younger, is that at the first of summer I allowed a week of unlimited screen/tv/doing nothing time.  DD literally overloaded on playing video games and watching tv until she was sick of it. When I restarted the limits again there was no complaining and she complied without any problems.  

Edited June 8, 2017 by goldberry

[lovinmyboys]

My kids are getting more than I like right now and it is because we are so busy. We are gone all day and then in the evenings too, so in the 3:30-5ish time frame I let them have screens. I would prefer they read or something, but they are tired and I am not going to fight it. When I am tired I watch a show even though I love reading.

 

July is much less busy and we are going to be mostly screen free (maybe an occasional family movie).

[Pink and Green Mom]

I limit mine to 2 hours per day.  The oldest has 4 hours of gym time and summer athletic stuff per day so it isn't him so much, it is the completely couch potato, wants to play minecraft 24/7 younger one that I worry about.

 

I am considering putting myself on same 2 hour limit, otherwise I could be online doing absolutely nothing of any value for hours at a time.  Gee I wonder where the youngest gets it from....

[SKL]

I would prefer a 1 hour limit, but realistically I don't have the time/energy to enforce it.  I try to manage it by giving chores and other requirements to be done first, but that doesn't quite cut it on unstructured days.

 

Luckily we don't have many unstructured days.  Even the summer is mostly packed with summer camps and activities.  I also force my kids to do some summer bridge work.

 

For your foster child, I wonder if it would be a good idea to put him/her in some structured activity.  Perhaps your library or rec center has a relaxed program that would offer a balance of fun, rest, and structure.

[eternalsummer]

Our situation is somewhat unique; we don't own a tv or any small electronic devices (no cell phones, no tablets, etc.)  We have two computers that we use for our home business; the kids can use them on occasion but generally they are in use already for the business.

 

They watch as much tv and etc. as they like when we stay in a hotel or visit relatives.

[Katy]

For my kids, that many transitions would be the hard part.  Their brains just don't chance gears that quickly, and they have a very tenuous grasp on the passage of time.  Twenty minutes of TV would be over in a blink, and instead of accurately remembering how many shows they watched on a given day, all they would remember is that over and over they were told the TV had to go off.

 

Wendy

 

Yeah, except for the whole firestick/roku thing means that for the tv they use most regularly they can't just watch continuously.  I have them set to require a PIN for each episode.  They know exactly when an episode ends.

[Farrar]

Basically the same policy as when we're doing school, which is screens after 5:00ish. It comes out to between 2-3ish hours on days when they don't have anything else going on. On days with activities, it can be significantly less.

 

However, we often watch something short during lunch or something longer and educational. And they're allowed to use screens for creative projects unlimited - so if they want to pull up videos about how to make something and then make it, or to work on a programming project, or do digital art - they're welcome to do those things with any free time they have at nearly any time.

 

When we're on the road, all rules go out the window. Sometimes they end up with more (especially if there are long car trips) and sometimes less (if we're somewhere and busy). So, no set rules then. My kids have a decently healthy attitude, so it's usually not an issue.

Edited June 8, 2017 by Farrar

[SparklyUnicorn]

I don't have any restrictions.  But then it's never been a problem so I feel no need to set a bunch of arbitrary rules.

 

 

[EMS83]

Having a day off doesn't affect their screen time in any significant or consistent way.  Things that are more likely to affect it: the weather, a Mommy project, Mommy stress.  Otherwise, non-school days is just more time with toys or outside or doing chores.  BUT, two of them get 2 hours or so each day with handhelds anyway, so I don't feel sorry for them.  The other would have this, too, but they broke their handheld and can't afford a new one yet.

[Cecropia]

If we did not limit screens, our children would absolutely have trouble self-regulating.

 

So on non-school days, they can play Prodigy (the math game online) for an hour as long as they're dressed, breakfast eaten, teeth brushed and their bed is made. 

 

We have a TV but no cable, and reception is really bad here so there is basically no current TV being watched at any time, except the occasional static-y NFL game in the fall.  The TV's main purpose is to be a monitor for the computer and the X Box/WII.  On Friday nights, school day or not, we watch a full feature movie as a family.  On school breaks we watch a one-hour "rerun" in the evenings of the rest of the week as long as everyone's on good terms... and that doesn't mean a laundry list of chores, just the basic self-care stuff like mentioned above and showers if they need them, meals eaten, no one's fighting, things like that.  Right now we're working through old seasons of Mythbusters we haven't seen.  When their rooms devolve into chaos, I sometimes require the floor picked up so that I don't kill myself walking in there and if that's not done by nightfall... no show.

 

Video game time is earned.  It's tied in with scout requirements -- if they do daily work on that, they record it and we check it off.  They can earn up to 3 hours per week to be played in a Saturday afternoon marathon.

 

Occasionally when we're having a really good day, I just let them watch whatever Ted-ED/Crash Course videos they want all afternoon.

 

When we travel long distances or we are sitting in Dr's offices we bring along phones/DS and let them have (mostly) unlimited time until it's over.

 

When we go to visit relatives, the TV is on every waking hour and computer time is unlimited (not my house, not my choice).  It has a huge impact on my kids' behavior and after we leave it can take a couple of weeks to get back to normal.  Life is so much better with the screen limits.

 

They do not own phones and won't in the near future.

Edited June 8, 2017 by Cecropia

[Ravin]

Mine self-regulate, as long as they get a certain minimum of chores and hygiene tasks done during the day. We can't afford a lot of outside activities in summer and DH is studying and writing (grad student), and it's too hot to play outside, so their options are limited. They do get bored with screens and go play with toys/do art/learn stuff after a while.

[rebcoola]

We don't have any set limits

 

They have kindle which are set for 45 minutes of game time but unlimited reading they mostly take these in the car.

 

 Play educational computer games for half an hour most days.  

 

We usually watch a family movie at night.  

 

They will also occasionally look up stuff on the computer, if they are the first ones up they will watch tv while eating breakfast some times.  

 

We have no behavior issues they spend several hours a day playing outside and have lots of sports and activities.

Edited June 8, 2017 by rebcoola

[lavender's green]

My kids get about one show per day, and Friday movie night. If it were totally up to me they'd only get Friday movie night, but the show is in the early morning while DH is in charge of them, and I'm not going to dictate what he does with them to help the grumpy hours along.

 

My reasons for low screen time have to do with their behavior. Sure, it's awesome to pop on the TV and let them go to town while I sit in another room eating bon-bons, but I find that after a while they get irritable and grumpy and just want to slug each other. Then they expect that high level of stimulation every.single.day. and become unreasonable (to put it mildly) when they can't have it. For our family it's all about this awful spiral about bad behavior. I assume nothing about other families' screen time policies. I'm actually jealous of

 

However, Friday movie night is always a big event. A fun dinner in the living room, popcorn, late bedtime, the whole nine yards. :)

[ScoutTN]

No set rules here, but we are not a big screens family.

 

Summer is for playing outside, swimming, camp, more swimming, cookouts, VBS, more swimming etc. When it is crazy hot or we watch more movies, for sure.

 

We watch a movie or some tv most weeks, usually together as a family, but occasionally just kids. My kids play Prodigy several times a week. Ds and Dh watch sports together.

 

My Ds likes WildKratts, Odd Squad, and cooking shows. America's Got Talent is our fun show for the summer, I think. Dd could go several weeks and not miss tv. Ds likes to watch, but is very extroverted and vastly prefers real people to a screen.

[Ausmumof3]

Things have varied around here. It may seem inconsistent but it often depends on attitude. It's not summer holidays here right now. My ds got up and did all his maths and got all but one problem before I got up this morning so he is currently getting bonus Minecraft time. However if there's any sign of hyperactivity or excessive whining or boredom off screen then I have no qualms about cutting back to zero. And if it's s beautiful day and they just want to hover round the screen I will turf them outside.

 

Also it depends on the activity. If it's researching how to do or make something there are less limits than for relatively mindless video watching.

 

There's a good post on Facebook which I can't remember exactly that has a list of

 

Done all your chores

Read a book

Helped someone else

Played a game

Made something creative

Done something active?

 

If you've done all that then you may have screen time. I quite like the list though I can't remember it as most time my kids need to go do at least one of those things.

[Zinnia]

I limit it to an hour a day.

 

I have 2 kids that love screens and could watch TV for 12-14 hours straight easily.

[Alice]

We don't have set rules. We swim in the summer so are at the pool for at least 2-3 hours a day. Dd also does dive team and boys are trying water polo this year. We do some light school work during the summer. We have various projects and other things we are working on or that they are doing individually. Other than that they are pretty much free to do what they want. Screen time varies. Sometimes they watch or do more, sometimes less. 

 

 

[happypamama]

No screens until noon, and only if chores and reading have been done. They can have an hour, with the ability to earn up to another hour for doing additional chores for dh or me. Playing Rocksmith doesn't count, but all total, I still put a four hour limit on stuff because I still don't want them sitting and playing guitar ALL day long. That's for the older ones. The younger ones are allowed about an hour, and that's it. All screens go off between 4 and 5 for evening chores. A family show or movie or music/educational video dh wants to show them doesn't count as screen time, and we relax the rules in crummy weather. We just had several days of cold, raw rain, so we were more lenient with the screens.

[Bluegoat]

For summer, we are only having screen time for family movie nights.  I might also allow it for someone who was sick.  We don't have car tv available.

 

Normally on weekends in the school year they are allowed while I get breakfast.  I'm probably changing that though, next year, sd it becomes difficult to get them off for school.