We Were Wrong About Limiting Children’s Screen Time
New guidelines by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) can help parents make smarter choices about how much screen time their kids get each day. The old guidelines clumped types of screen time like entertainment and educational programming together just like they clumped ages of children together. So, this was a good step in the right direction. The AAP published an interactive online tool to personalize your family media use plan. It’s good for getting the conversation going about what activities are off limits at specific times of the day and in particular locations.
Use your good judgment and common sense when designing your plan. Make meal time, homework time, and bedtime sacred by declaring them a no-screen time zone. The AAP recommends that children under 18 months use screen time only to Facetime or Skype with family members but not for a babysitting substitute. Kids ages 2 to 5 should limit screen time to just one hour per day. Older kids (6 and older) need consistent limits that create a healthy balance between sleep and physical activity. Today, kids need screen time to do a lot of their homework and to check assignments online. Obviously we can’t limit computer time for academics, but we can limit the number of hours our kids play video games.
I found the AAP Family Media Use plan to be a bit cumbersome to fill out and something that most families probably won’t use. Instead, make family rules about places to have screen time and the maximum number of hours allowed each day. Then, give your kids the wifi password AFTER they finish their book-work homework and chores.
Don’t allow screen time during meals or on short trips to preserve your family social time, and place device chargers in the kitchen, not bedrooms, so the kids don’t use them in bed. The sounds and lights interfere with their sleep patterns. Check out a blog I wrote about controlling internet use when you’re away from home. Set controls on your kids screen time while you still can.
Once they establish social patterns of having their phones and gadges attached to their hands, it’ll be next to impossible to teach them how to balance their lives with exercise, social activities and school. Remember, you’re the parent and it’s up to you to set the rules.
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