FINDING YOUR FAMILY'S SCREEN TIME FORMULA

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, that was my mission. 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 allowed her use one of our phones.

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.

Back to Basics – The Screen Time Formula is a complete step-by-step online course to create a screen time formula that works for your family.

For parents who are ready to reset screen time in their home and create a healthy technology plan for their kids.
Arm yourself with the information to make informed decisions about how and when your child uses their screen.
Go from anytime, anywhere screen time to a healthy, balanced lifestyle with clear media use guidelines and improved family relationships.

What you’ll get inside the course:

10 Step-by-Step videos showing you how to create an individual screen time plan that works for your family
A course workbook to help you stay focused throughout the course
5 PDF Printables for you to use in your home

Here is what you will 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 your plan with the kid’s help and input
Selecting screen time tools to help manage and backup your screen time strategy
How to tweak and maintain your new screen time plan

My 8yo daughter was getting more and more into Minecraft, kids messenger, and utube ( ughh) and the time she spent on devices had gradually increased to the point that we needed to reign it in. My partner and I were also guilty of browsing social media a little too much at times so we decided it was time to look for a screen time management strategy that would suit our family and give us back the family time that was slowly diminishing. The Cyber Safety Tech Mum’s “The Screen time formula” online course allowed me to work through the video tutorials in my own time and provided all the resources needed to get our family screen time strategy together. I particularly liked the fact that it was not a ‘one size fits all’ solution, but offered information and pros/cons on various strategy approaches we could take to build a bespoke strategy around our family values and commitments. It was also good to find out about the numerous parental controls that are readily available on most devices and apps to help enforce the rules! The course was easy to follow and navigate, and had a logical approach that worked in well with the printables and workbook. Thanks Nic – After a few negotiations and challenges we now have a very well thought out and agreed on plan that gives us a great starting point for a more balanced life! The dogs are ecstatic