Too Much Screen Time???

It is Saturday afternoon and the house is quiet.  Ah...domestic tranquility!  You are reading a book (you've been meaning to read to for 2 months), and everyone else is glued to technology.  Hubby is scanning Facebook on his phone, the 7-year-old is blasting away at something on Lego Star Wars, the 4-year-old is watching Pla Doh videos on YouTube, and the 3-year-old is playing Batman on his Leapster Explorer or watching what his sisters are up to.

The peace and quiet is so nice, but your mind is abuzz with nagging questions:

"Shouldn't my children be playing?  They have been glued to that video game system for 2 hours!"

If I were to don my Screen Time Nazi badge, I would stop the game, but then I know I would hear,

 

"But moooooom, I have nothing to doooooo!  This is so booooooring!" 

(Aryn took this picture of herself.  I think it's hilarious.  She said that is how she'd react if I told her no more video games.  Love this girl!)

How do we face this problem?

What should we do?
 
I don't think all technology is bad.  Almost every tv show and game for children under the age of eight is geared toward learning.  When I need to do the dishes or make dinner and my 3-year-old is whining and clinging to my leg, I let him play Mickey Mouse preschool games on the computer.  He happily skips over to the computer and plays for 1/2 hour or so while I take care of business.

I think technology becomes bad when it's the only thing they're doing all day.  And all night.  And all weekend.

So here are a few pointers that we have found to help cut down on screen time at our house:
 
1.  Set Limits 

Let your children set their own limits. 

How, you may ask, would I do that?

Well, I've been experimenting with my 7-year-old who would like to play video games all day every day if I let her.  I had had enough, so I could have said: "I am tired of you playing video games all the time, so if it were up to me, I would throw the thing out the window and say goodbye to video games forever."

Instead, I said, "Pick 3 days a week to play video games in the afternoon for 1 hour."  So...when presented with the option of none or limited game play, she chose to limit her own game play.  She also gets practice writing out a weekly calendar and the names of the days of the week.  (Score!)

Child empowered, mom placated.  


2.  Assign chores 

If your children continue to complain about having nothing to do when it is not video game time, assign them some chores!

I tell my daughter to go sharpen some pencils - this is her most dreaded chore.  After one pencil, she suddenly thinks of 100 other things she'd rather be doing.

3.  Put Your Technology Down and Play With Them!

I don't know why a child would want to quit playing with his technology when you won't put your phone down all day.  Or you're constantly on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter.  Truth.

So, today, although I hate going out in the cold, I did it anyway.  I put on some snowpants and bundled myself up to the hilt, then went out to play with my kids in the snow.  Here is a picture of my happy child who asked me to bury her in the snow so she could surprise her grandparents who were coming to visit.  No zoned out stares, just a happy kid. 

You can do it!  Turn off the technology and enjoy your children.  They're only little for a short while.

It's worth a try, don't you think?

----
Please leave a comment here or on my Facebook page - I'd love to know if it works for your family, or if you have another method of limiting screen time.