Do you allow unlimited screen time on play dates
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| I thought this was going to be about parents who let their kids bring tablets to other people's homes for playdates. My kids have friends over because they want to play/hang out, not because they want to watch their friend play a game on the iPad. It's so weird. |
Anonymous
|
If it is something like MineCraft or a 2 person game/creative, then yes.
If it is random youtube kid videos. no. There is a limit |
Anonymous
And as a parent, you're okay with this behavior? |
you won’t even notice, just that they will always be busy when your kid invites them over.
Anonymous
There really isn't. Not everyone has to be the same as you. Just because my kids don't have a ton of screen time and don't want screen time on their playdates doesn't mean I'm super uptight. Quite the opposite, actually. My kids want to make art, play outside, play with legos with their friends...not because I don't allow screen time, but just because they never ask for it. |
Anonymous
| I have girls, so this is less of an issue, but my 6th grader has definitely had friends who brought over tablets and phones and she doesn't care for it. Those kids don't get invited back because "they're boring". |
Anonymous
| This is age specific. With my 10 year old, play dates are half video games, half other play. My 7 year old doesn’t ask for or expect screens. |
Anonymous
That’s nice you have girls or feminine boys you are raising |
Anonymous
| Yeaaa I don’t think it is pearl clutching either. I want my kids to play when they are with other kids, not sit and stare at an iPad. My kids are younger so the entertainment of choice is either YouTube, which is garbage, or watching their friends play a one player game. Nope!!!! |
Anonymous
What a bizarre comment. My son loves throwing the football or kicking a ball around and riding his bike. He also loves drawing Pokemon, writing in his journal, and playing piano. He doesn’t play video games. Nobody has accused him of being feminine because who even thinks in these terms especially before the kid had even hit puberty? |
Anonymous
What do you think kids do when they play outside? They ride bikes, shoot hoops, run around, etc. Playing video games and staring at the screen doesn't speak much to your effective parenting raising boys or girls. |
Anonymous
Art, legos, and playing outside are feminine? |
Anonymous
| This is our vibe. Our kids are primarily screen free; they have iPads for our international travel and don’t use them otherwise. A PS5 that they use 1-2x month to play together, with friends or with their dad who loves gaming with them. That’s it. 11yo old has a big group of friends and they have super long hangouts, sometimes after a game they will hang out all day at a rotating list of houses. If it’s at ours, the kids bring iPads and I do regulate use. Usually it’s an hour of outside play, lunch, hour of basement play, hour of iPad play TOGETHER so playing Minecraft or fifa or madden whatever they play, then back outside. If he goes over to friends’ houses they asked him to bring his iPad and sometimes I allow it sometimes I don’t. They get to watch some family TV and sports with us in our living room on weekends so along with what I described this is the SUM of their screen time. I am trying to stay flexible and adapt. You’ll find most play dates have a mix of all those things, it’s not a dweeby weirdo playing iPad alone while other kids watch, and it does get harder to regulate as they get older. I shoo them off screens and get them outside but it’s a mix and a balance. They play a ton and play hard. I see a lot of judgment in this thread and just a gentle reminder that kids have fun in lots of different ways. Playing together using screens is one of them, I hear the laughter and the conversations and it’s healthy and normal thank you God. Parents can tell if it’s unhealthy and fixational. |
Anonymous
lol I had the same thought. I’m trying to picture my 9 y/o and his friends “making art” during a play date. 😂 It’s all sports or video games at this age. They run around outside. Then they play a game inside. Then back outside and so on. They could do this all day. They’re generally not busting out the Lego sets anymore, which makes me a little sad, but interests change as they get older. |
Anonymous
| We don't allow it at our house, and I really hate to let my kids go to houses that do. But I don't fight it too hard, since it's a once in a while thing. I can still remember how much I wanted to go to certain friends' houses as a kid so I could play their nintendo (we weren't allowed video games at home). Certainly didn't ruin me! |
Anonymous
You sure about that |