Screen Time
This is a big problem at our house. It borders upon obsession.
What am I saying? It is an obsession.
We (unfortunately) own many “screens”: big screens, tiny screens, screens of all sizes in-between.
I’m still unclear on whose idea this was originally, but it was a bad one.
In my opinion (and obviously being The Mom, I’m right), the only screens we should own are:
1- the large one in the family room where we watch family movies, documentaries, the accepted sit-com, and where I watch Downton Abbey and other Masterpiece Theatre productions while Scott takes a nice little nap.
2- the laptop upon which I am currently writing, (ie: my laptop. No one else’s. Just. Mine.)
Unfortunately this is not the case. And the obsession appears to be growing.
Thus we initiated Screen Time. It works (in theory) like this:
Child is expected to fill in his “to do’s” for the week. For example, our just-turned-ten-year-old has the following duties:
*Feed dogs, chickens, parakeets.
*Help fill the dishwashers.
*Put away his laundry and tidy his room.
*Take his (rotated weekly) turn drying and putting away the pans.
*Vacuum the stairs weekly (twice a week during a good week. Which seldom occurs).
*Put away “his stuff”.
*Complete all assigned schoolwork.
Now, to some people this seems like a list bordering on child labor. Others claim it is sorely lacking and my children are doomed to become spoiled cretans believing the state owes them a living.
{My own wishy washy opinion lies somewhere in the middle.}
But to continue… If said ten year old completes all of his assigned duties for the day he is allowed “screen time,” defined as any time before any screen, be it a computer, a television, or a video game. Originally screen time was decided to consist of two hours per day; this was deemed to be a bit much for our obsessive/compulsive family and accordingly switched to one hour.
Saturday is a day unto itself. If all obligations throughout the week have been fulfilled I proclaim “Let the Games Begin” around 6 p.m. or so and Saturday evening (for me at least) becomes amazingly quiet. Sunday is “family time,” as is Wednesday evening, so Screen Time, aside from family movies, is banished and other types of chaos allowed to reign.
So far the “Screen Time” schedule is working quite well; for our ten year old at least.
Teenagers, as anyone blessed with one in their life knows, are an entity unto themselves.
Thus the Teenage Screen Time Schedule is still under construction and shall be revealed at a later date.
Until then, may your tight jeans always slide on easy and every day be a blessing!
Tags: chores, family, parenting, screen time, social media, tv time
Oh, I SO empathize; when we were snowed in, my 9 year old, I’m ashamed to say, spent easily 6 hours straight on Minecraft. He NEVER tires of that game. I tell myself at least it’s creative!! His younger brother plays it too, but can walk away from it, though he doesn’t since he wants to do whatever his brother is doing. So I do the screen time thing but with Minecraft, have become terribly lax, especially as we’ve had way too many hurricane, and blizzard days, not to mention damn holidays and I am TIRED. It’s a tough issue as the reality is, this is our children’s world. The digital one. Minecraft is the new playground I tell myself. I guess I do feel differently about that game as opposed to the mind-numbing wii games, skylanders etc all which they tire of far more quickly. And it doesn’t help that I’m on my screen ( yes MY laptop.mine. mine) a good part of the time…
Mine love minecraft as well. And skylanders – augh – so overpriced imo and they “win” so quickly! (And thus the need to by the next expensive game begins….)
If they were designing their own games… Well no doubt I’d feel differently 
And yes I’m on my computer a good part of the day as well – though as I tell them I’m *creating something* as opposed to simply playing something someone else has created
This is a daily battle!
Isn’t it awful!