How to Manage Screen Time for Kids

Screen Time for Kids

When I decided to venture into the world of cyber safety, it was because I really, really didn’t want my daughter’s stumbling over pornographic images while they were online. They were waaaaayyy too young to start seeing any of that stuff.

So my mission began. I had the skills to work out how to block adult material, set it up in my own home and share it with other parents. And that is what I did.

Then my girls got older (as kids tend to do 😀) and the time they were using their devices for each day was increasing.

The number of kids we had grew and the number of devices in our home increased. There wasn’t one iPad to share – my big girls could pick up a device each now. I noticed that I was having to ask them to put their devices down more often and with that came ‘techno-tantrums.’

iPads were introduced at school. Then they came home for homework.

My laptop was commandeered to play an online game with friends.

The TV seemed to be on non-stop.

The iPad we owned was forever on charge only to be used till the battery went flat and it was put on charge again.

Daughter number 3 got older and wanted to use a device like her big sisters. We gave her one of our phones to use.

Daughter number 1 was deemed mature enough to have an Instagram account. How long was she spending on there?!

We knew they weren’t viewing anything that they shouldn’t. We had internet filters and parental controls in place along with other rules like where they could use the devices so that we could supervise.

WE HAD A NEW PROBLEM.

Screens were taking over our daily routines, impacting on our physical activity and affecting our family relationships.

So, like I did with blocking pornographic images and other unsuitable material from their devices, I swung into action.

I put together a business case (read: made a plan of attack!).

I wanted to give them screen time and I didn’t want to feel guilty about it and I didn’t want the dramas of them asking all of the time for it or having tizzy fits when I asked them to put their screens down.

I wanted a solution that worked for MY family.

A plan that catered for our sporting committments, hobbies, weekend activities, homework, holidays, our parenting method, our 3 children with a 7 year gap between youngest and oldest………..

Something that the kids would be on-board with.

So here is what I did. I came up with a stepped approach and I implemented it. It was good but it wasn’t 100% so I tweaked it. Then my middle daughter started high school so I tweaked what we had again. I didn’t have to start over – just slightly modified it to suit US and were WE were at in our lives.

As I helped other families with internet filters, restrictions and parental controls in their own homes I was being hit with the same question: How would I recommend they manage screen time?

“No worries” I said. “I have a step-by-step system that is going to help you make a screen time plan for YOUR family.”

And now I have created a course for that very system: Back to Basics – The Screen Time Formula

Here is what you’ll learn:

What healthy screen time looks like and your family’s screen time goals
Choosing the screen time strategy or strategies that best suit your family
Creating a game plan of how you see your strategy working day-to-day
Implementing the plan with your kid’s help and input
Selecting screen time tools to help manage and back up your screen time strategy
How to tweak and maintain your new screen time plan

"Nic shared valuable information in regards to us managing screen time for our 4 kids. Knowing how to manage our 14 year old's fascination with gaming was a challenge but with her advice and tips we were able to come up with a screen time plan and rules that work for our family"