Screen Time Boundaries

Screen Time Boundaries - Part 2

Following my screen boundaries post, some of you contacted me requesting further details into how I implement the plan and communicate to my kids that screen time must be "earned".

Firstly, sit down with your kids and make a list of the behaviors you want to address (these can be a simple as stop antagonizing your sibling - a popular one in our house!) and a list of the daily chores they must complete.

Make it clear the chores must be completed as part of their "earnings". Where possible, let them choose when to do them (this encourages personal responsibility) as long as they are done before their next block of screen time.

Regarding enforcing good behavior, choose how you feel best it would work with your family. I usually knock 5 minutes at a time off their next screen time allocations, depending on the extent of the misdemeanor!

How many times have we been driven to the point of frustration and uttered the unavoidable words "that's it, screens are gone for the day!!" and while we mean it at the time, we know, and even worse our children know, we will not implement the threat!

With this plan, we are teaching the children there are consequences for their behavior, in a manner that is easy for parents to implement and stick too. The further benefit to parents, is we can avoid the "blanket ban" approach to screens, and still achieve the all important head space that we need in order to stay sane, especially during the long summer holidays!

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