How much screen time/ tv time do your kids get a day on weekdays?

[Anonymous]

curious what this looks like for others.

[Anonymous]

One child, age 7. The only screen he has access to is the lone TV in our living room. Maximum of 30 minutes of MLB Quick Pitch or NHL On The Fly, depending on the season, in the morning. Most evenings are also limited to 30 minutes while we watch the start of a baseball game or maybe some American Ninja Warrior. It's a bit dependent of what evening activities are going on and if it's clear DC needs some time to wind down between a post-sport shower and bed. Sometimes there's no TV at all.

All bets are off if it's not a school day, or kid is home sick. Sometimes of a Friday we'll do pizza and movie night. But on a regular weekday, it's pretty limited.

[Anonymous]

1 daughter. Just turned 11. Unlimited during free time, however, she dances on average 4 hours afterschool, so when she finally gets home after a long day, I feel she is deserving of screen time until bedtime.

[Anonymous]

This has changed dramatically as they get older. Now they are ages 13 and 15 and we’re trying to balance independence with discipline. Some days it’s way too much, but the kid even gets it and will admit he overdid it. Teach them early about how apps are designed to be addictive and how a lot of what they see on those apps is fake. They’re teaching it in school now, which is great.

[Anonymous]

Zero. It used to be one to two hours everyday two years ago. I was surprised how easy it was to get rid of it. They read books and draw and hang out now.

[Anonymous]

None monday to Thursday for a 9 year old. Just makes our weekdays easier and more balanced and gives us plenty of time for activities, family time, meals, chores, errands, etc. With free time he plays games, reads, goes outside.

A few hours each weekend day though.

[Anonymous]

I have an 8 and 10 year old. They watch 0-45 minutes of shows or games during the school week. It’s way less limited on weekends or days off school, but really varies. Sometimes we’re super busy and there’s very little. Sometimes we’re home all day and it’s loads.

[Anonymous]

For a third grader, none during the week. On weekends, we watch a couple episodes of a TV show as a family in the afternoon of Saturday and Sunday, and she has up to an hour to do online math enrichment before bed if she wants. She usually does about half an hour of that.

[Anonymous]

Zero from pre-k 3 to 9th grade. In 9th, my kids were allowed to have screen time (mostly texting with friends and checking instagram reels) after homework was complete. We made exceptions for big sporting or news events like elections, World Series, etc. I wouldn’t have minded a little tv after homework but they never had much time after sports and dinner and homework anyway. And having a blanket rule made it easier (for me).

[Anonymous]

Well I guess we are outliers. No screens in the morning, but DD 8 has unlimited access to her tablet after school up until dinnertime, roughly 2 hours. She watches YouTube Kids and plays Roblox or Minecraft. Weekends tend to be busy with activities but she usually spends a couple of hours in the morning chilling on her tablet before we start the day. I used to be much more strict about screen time but have gotten lazy, to be honest. She has never been good at self-entertaining despite years of trying to shape that behavior, and somewhere along the way I got burnt out. So the tablet is a crutch for both of us.

[Anonymous]

op - ty for these replies this is so useful!
my kids have activities after school (usually like 2h of sports practice or games) and dont get home till 530-6. After dinner and homework they are fried and want to space out and watch tv (usually sports or that thing where you guess if it's cake but for the sake of candor, sometimes they watch random dudes playing roblox on youtube while I halfheartedly say 'this is dumb' from the kitchen whilst both making dinner and finishing up my workday). So we are averaging like 1.5h of screen time a day, but at that point they've had a 9-10h day of stuff and they want the downtime. I can't quite figure out what to do about it (esp my adhd/ mild asd 11 yo who is so fried after all his sports and school and behaving well that he needs to zone out). Is this a hill to die on? They are 8 and 11 and after they go to bed they both read for an hour.

[Anonymous]

9 and 5 - none.

[Anonymous]

Three dc, ages 6-3. Usually none but sometimes we do a "movie night" as in we watch a few episodes of Stillwater or something like that. A few times a month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:op - ty for these replies this is so useful!
my kids have activities after school (usually like 2h of sports practice or games) and dont get home till 530-6. After dinner and homework they are fried and want to space out and watch tv (usually sports or that thing where you guess if it's cake but for the sake of candor, sometimes they watch random dudes playing roblox on youtube while I halfheartedly say 'this is dumb' from the kitchen whilst both making dinner and finishing up my workday). So we are averaging like 1.5h of screen time a day, but at that point they've had a 9-10h day of stuff and they want the downtime. I can't quite figure out what to do about it (esp my adhd/ mild asd 11 yo who is so fried after all his sports and school and behaving well that he needs to zone out). Is this a hill to die on? They are 8 and 11 and after they go to bed they both read for an hour.

Surely, they'd find a way to "zone out" without TV if you didn't have it. Our TV is in the basement, where it's out of sight, out of mind. Our eight year old has activities, and I'm sure she's tired, but it's just not an option. She reads when she's bored.

[Anonymous]

Pretty much whatever they want, one will watch an hour or so in the morning if he’s awake and then they watch if they aren’t playing with friends, practicing their sport or at a game for their sports. Sports generally take up 3-4 hours a day 5-6 days a week. They need some downtime. They don’t have homework usually.