If you’re like me, you struggle with your kids’ usage of phones and tablets. My son just turned ten on July 4th, and he did everything he could to convince me to get him an iphone.
“But Dad, my friends all have them”, etc etc. I also have a 5 year old, and even she is constantly begging me to let her use my phone so that she can play games on it. It’s exhausting, makes me feel yucky because I don’t like getting nagged, and I don’t like losing my patience with my kids. But it doesn’t look like phones are going away, so, what do parents do? What should parents do?
If you look to the medical community for answers, the research seems to clearly indicate that the usage of devices by young kids is not a healthy thing. Here’s what the American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines are for screen time:
American Academy of Pediatrics Recommendations for screen media:
- For children younger than 18 months, avoid use of screen media other than video-chatting. Parents of children 18 to 24 months of age who want to introduce digital media should choose high-quality programming, and watch it with their children to help them understand what they’re seeing.
- For children ages 2 to 5 years, limit screen use to 1 hour per day of high-quality programs. Parents should co-view media with children to help them understand what they are seeing and apply it to the world around them.
- For children ages 6 and older, place consistent limits on the time spent using media, and the types of media, and make sure media does not take the place of adequate sleep, physical activity and other behaviors essential to health.
- Designate media-free times together, such as dinner or driving, as well as media-free locations at home, such as bedrooms.
- Have ongoing communication about online citizenship and safety, including treating others with respect online and offline.
Read the complete guidelines from the AAP here: https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/Pages/American-Academy-of-Pediatrics-Announces-New-Recommendations-for-Childrens-Media-Use.aspx
Wow, only one hour per day of total screen time for my 5 yr old, even in the summer?
How will I do that without all of us going crazy?!
So I decided to create a list of things the kids can do, and things we can do as a family that don’t involve screens. I call it the ABC’s. Anything But Computers. Now, before all you computer lovers start getting mad at me, I have NOTHING against computers. In fact, I love them. I love my iPhone (at least when it works), my Macbook, and my iMac. They are crucial to my livelihood, and I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without them. However, I’m hoping that we can all agree that using one’s screens for work and education are different than using them for multi-hour binges of Nintendo to the exclusion of most other things. We decided to focus on ADDING positive activities rather than LIMITING the phones altogether. I haven’t counted the minutes, but I can tell you that some days, my kids aren’t in front of screens at all.
Here’s our ABC list, it’s a work in progress:
Josh’s Summer ABC (anything but computers) list for the kids
- Swimming
- Biking (early morning or late afternoon)
- Visual Art (drawing coloring, painting)
- Legos
- Practice Piano
- Music Theory Book Activities
- Music Lessons
- Walking and Hiking
- Reading Books
- Indoor go carts
- Yoga
- Laser Tag
- Helping with cleaning and organizing the house
- Photography
- Practice Drums
Of course, this isn’t perfect. They still get on my phone and play games. But I’m making the effort to get them excited about other things. And it’s working out well.
So, did my son get the shiny new iPhone for his 10th birthday?
Nope. He got a Drum set. And he thinks it’s awesome. And so do I.
