So..what do your kids do at home?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they are at camp all day, I don't see what the big deal is letting them play electronics until dinner. After dinner, you can take a walk or bike ride.

This, what is with the dcum extreme pearl clutching about "electronics"? What if they were doing drawing/reading, for example, on the dreaded electronics? Would it then be okay?

Call it pearl clutching, but electronics are a tool. I don’t want my kids using them as the default for passing the time. Hell, I don’t want that for myself, either.

Google pruning and the developing brain. The habits that you were creating in your kids now, are the ones that will stick. Is this how you want them spending their free time over the long-haul?

That bolded line is my exact issue with electronics. As soon as you start letting the kiddos use a screen for pacification - when they are upset, angry, bored, whatever - it becomes a habit. They don't know any other coping mechanism. This is exactly what I am trying to avoid when I avoid giving screens to my children the majority of the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they are at camp all day, I don't see what the big deal is letting them play electronics until dinner. After dinner, you can take a walk or bike ride.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they are at camp all day, I don't see what the big deal is letting them play electronics until dinner. After dinner, you can take a walk or bike ride.

+1

Yeah, not seeing the big deal. 8 year old has some camps that end at 3-4. Get home, snack, and let him chill with a couple shows or iPad. All day he's active and doing stuff. It's Summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not your problem, it's theirs, and they need to solve it. Just say no electronics until X time or only X minutes per day or whatever, and then let them figure out how to fill the time. Reading, drawing, writing, legos, painting, knitting, sewing, arts and crafts, cooking, science experiments, card games, magic tricks, etc. If they complain too much, give them chores to do. They'll figure it out, and their brains will be better for it.

NP I would love for my DC to do any of these but no siblings to play with. Does this approach work for just one kid? and how long can it keep them occupied?

I have an only, and it works fine. Sometimes I play with her, obviously, but she can happily spend hours reading, playing, writing in her journal, drawing, building stuff, etc. I also invite her to help me prep dinner, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not your problem, it's theirs, and they need to solve it. Just say no electronics until X time or only X minutes per day or whatever, and then let them figure out how to fill the time. Reading, drawing, writing, legos, painting, knitting, sewing, arts and crafts, cooking, science experiments, card games, magic tricks, etc. If they complain too much, give them chores to do. They'll figure it out, and their brains will be better for it.

NP I would love for my DC to do any of these but no siblings to play with. Does this approach work for just one kid? and how long can it keep them occupied?

I have an only, and it works fine. Sometimes I play with her, obviously, but she can happily spend hours reading, playing, writing in her journal, drawing, building stuff, etc. I also invite her to help me prep dinner, etc.

My just turned 12 year old is so content chilling after camp and just listening to music. 9 year old likes to chill and watch some TV when he gets home from camp. But they only do one week of camp in the summer so they'll get bored more often starting next week and whining for electronics. But they go to the pool a lot, play out side, they actually started doing strength training routines (push ups, pull ups, planks, etc), next week we are going to start some Khan Academy and having them get back to reading. They used to be prolific readers and have slowed way down so we'll hit the library and pick out some books.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they are at camp all day, I don't see what the big deal is letting them play electronics until dinner. After dinner, you can take a walk or bike ride.

Totally agree

Agree as well.

[Anonymous]

tetherball
ping pong
trampoline
gravitrax
Quixels
walking the dogs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they are at camp all day, I don't see what the big deal is letting them play electronics until dinner. After dinner, you can take a walk or bike ride.

Agree!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they are at camp all day, I don't see what the big deal is letting them play electronics until dinner. After dinner, you can take a walk or bike ride.

+1

Yeah, not seeing the big deal. 8 year old has some camps that end at 3-4. Get home, snack, and let him chill with a couple shows or iPad. All day he's active and doing stuff. It's Summer.

I feel like it’s easy to think this as adults who probably sit on our butts all day looking at a screen. Relative to us, our kids seem super active and engaged. But that doesn’t mean hours of screen time are “okay”— for any of us, really.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they are at camp all day, I don't see what the big deal is letting them play electronics until dinner. After dinner, you can take a walk or bike ride.

+1

Yeah, not seeing the big deal. 8 year old has some camps that end at 3-4. Get home, snack, and let him chill with a couple shows or iPad. All day he's active and doing stuff. It's Summer.

I feel like it’s easy to think this as adults who probably sit on our butts all day looking at a screen. Relative to us, our kids seem super active and engaged. But that doesn’t mean hours of screen time are “okay”— for any of us, really.

They'll live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they are at camp all day, I don't see what the big deal is letting them play electronics until dinner. After dinner, you can take a walk or bike ride.

+1

Yeah, not seeing the big deal. 8 year old has some camps that end at 3-4. Get home, snack, and let him chill with a couple shows or iPad. All day he's active and doing stuff. It's Summer.

I feel like it’s easy to think this as adults who probably sit on our butts all day looking at a screen. Relative to us, our kids seem super active and engaged. But that doesn’t mean hours of screen time are “okay”— for any of us, really.

They'll live.

That’s a low bar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they are at camp all day, I don't see what the big deal is letting them play electronics until dinner. After dinner, you can take a walk or bike ride.

+1

Yeah, not seeing the big deal. 8 year old has some camps that end at 3-4. Get home, snack, and let him chill with a couple shows or iPad. All day he's active and doing stuff. It's Summer.

I feel like it’s easy to think this as adults who probably sit on our butts all day looking at a screen. Relative to us, our kids seem super active and engaged. But that doesn’t mean hours of screen time are “okay”— for any of us, really.

They'll live.

That’s a low bar.

I don’t understand. Human beings enjoy downtime. When we were growing up it was television. Kids are more scheduled and busier than ever! Let them have some quite iPad/screen time.

My daughters do a lot of stuff in their downtime. They do pretend play, make crafts, create fake towns, play outside, etc.
They also like to lounge on the couch with their phones. It’s ok!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they are at camp all day, I don't see what the big deal is letting them play electronics until dinner. After dinner, you can take a walk or bike ride.

+1

Yeah, not seeing the big deal. 8 year old has some camps that end at 3-4. Get home, snack, and let him chill with a couple shows or iPad. All day he's active and doing stuff. It's Summer.

I feel like it’s easy to think this as adults who probably sit on our butts all day looking at a screen. Relative to us, our kids seem super active and engaged. But that doesn’t mean hours of screen time are “okay”— for any of us, really.

They'll live.

Really? They won’t die? Are you sure?

Anyway, that wasn’t my point. Or maybe it was. We’ll all live. Maybe we’d be happier if we didn’t default to hours of TV every day. *shrug*

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they are at camp all day, I don't see what the big deal is letting them play electronics until dinner. After dinner, you can take a walk or bike ride.

+1

Yeah, not seeing the big deal. 8 year old has some camps that end at 3-4. Get home, snack, and let him chill with a couple shows or iPad. All day he's active and doing stuff. It's Summer.

I feel like it’s easy to think this as adults who probably sit on our butts all day looking at a screen. Relative to us, our kids seem super active and engaged. But that doesn’t mean hours of screen time are “okay”— for any of us, really.

They'll live.

That’s a low bar.

I don’t understand. Human beings enjoy downtime. When we were growing up it was television. Kids are more scheduled and busier than ever! Let them have some quite iPad/screen time.

My daughters do a lot of stuff in their downtime. They do pretend play, make crafts, create fake towns, play outside, etc.
They also like to lounge on the couch with their phones. It’s ok!

I think this kind of illustrates my point. Scheduling kids to the max and giving them a billion hours of homework and then allowing a bunch of screen time to “decompress” is like giving people medicine to solve a problem that might be solved with lifestyle changes and then giving them a second drug to combat the side effects of the first one. It’s also turning them into mini adults who are stressed and then numb themselves to get through another day. A bit exaggerated to make a point, but I think a valid concern.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they are at camp all day, I don't see what the big deal is letting them play electronics until dinner. After dinner, you can take a walk or bike ride.

+1

Yeah, not seeing the big deal. 8 year old has some camps that end at 3-4. Get home, snack, and let him chill with a couple shows or iPad. All day he's active and doing stuff. It's Summer.

I feel like it’s easy to think this as adults who probably sit on our butts all day looking at a screen. Relative to us, our kids seem super active and engaged. But that doesn’t mean hours of screen time are “okay”— for any of us, really.

They'll live.

Really? They won’t die? Are you sure?

Anyway, that wasn’t my point. Or maybe it was. We’ll all live. Maybe we’d be happier if we didn’t default to hours of TV every day. *shrug*

“Hours.”