Screen Time
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
Our 4th grade daughter is on a tear about how little screen time she gets vis-a-vis her friends, who she insists get unlimited screen time.
She is currently allowed 2 hours of unstructured screen time on weekends -- mostly she uses this for Minecraft or Nintendo but sometimes watches Netflix -- and none during school nights. She also gets additional supervised screen time, such as Friday night family movies, or sometimes we'll sit down together and look up puppy videos on Youtube after homework is done or she'll research something with supervision. So maybe that's all told 6 hours a week, between unsupervised and supervised screen time, mostly on Friday night and weekends. We are thinking of giving her a couple more hours of free time but not during school nights. Honest question: how much unstructured screen time do you give your older elementary school child? |
Anonymous
| We're still on only weekly family movie nights, which because of other commitments only happen about once every six weeks. So you can tell your daughter there's at least a couple kids out there who get less screen time than her! |
Anonymous
|
I love the way you handle things. We do no screen time on school nights and unlimited on weekends and days off school (after chores and stuff) but we also have lots of activities going on those days so it's not like they're watching for eight hours. I just do it that way because I'm kinda lazy and I don't want to have to keep track of timers and such. Kids are 10 and 7.
I don't personally know a single parent who lets their kids have literally unlimited screen time. I have heard of them but all the parents I know are constantly agonizing about what to do and re-calibrating from time to time. |
Anonymous
OP here. I will!! |
Anonymous
|
No unstructured screen time on weekdays. Any screen use is homework-related, or maybe everyone watching a short video together. We don't have hard limits on weekends, but it probably works out to a max of two hours a day, maybe more if part of it is watching something as a family.
I'm sure that there are kids who get unlimited screen time, but I have never met these kids. Most kids I know have some kind of limit. |
Anonymous
It doesn't seem like unlimited screen time would work for anyone but I am weirdly afraid of asking her friends' parents directly. I'm afraid of coming off as judgmental. And honestly, it doesn't matter if her friends get unlimited time because there is no way we are going that route. It just wouldn't work for our family. |
Anonymous
| My kids don’t get any screen time (at home) during the school week. The weekends are more loose, but there’s no plan/structure |
Anonymous
|
I have boys ages 8 and 10. They get about 45 minutes of unstructured screen time on weeknights when they get home from aftercare while DH and I are making dinner if they don't have other activities. We usually do Friday night movie night. Sat and Sunday mornings they probably spend 2 hours each morning on unstructured screen time. Sometimes late afternoons, early evenings on the weekends, especially in the winter we'll play some video games as a family (Mario Kart, FIFA, SmashBros).
It seems like a lot when I type it out but they are well adjusted boys who get good grades, are involved in a lot activities, enjoy reading and playing with their friends and parents so I'm trying not to stress too much about. I watched a lot of TV as a kid and my brother played a lot of video games and we are both healthy, happy and successful. |
Anonymous
OP here: I like how everyone seems to be thinking about it. Not too much, not too little, but a balance that works for your family. The Goldilocks approach! 
|
Anonymous
| Our 10 and 12 year olds get no screen time during the week, and max of about an hour on weekends. We make exceptions for "together" screen time like family movie nights, big sporting events, etc. |
Anonymous
|
On weekdays my kids get about an hour depending on when we get home from school and how much homework they have. On the weekend, they get much more.
FWIW I don't actually limit or log their screen time. It's more dependent on what we have going on. |
Anonymous
| My kids get unlimited screen time. So do their friends. All great kids. Good students. |
Anonymous
My daughter gets straight A’s and always does her homework as soon as she gets home. I have no rules on screen time but the computer is where I can see the screen at all times. She knows if the grades slip...no more screen time. She also has a phone but we know all the logins and passwords to all of her accounts and it is clear to her we will monitor. She is a great kid and we couldn’t be prouder. The best part is she would rather read than watch TV or those god awful YouTube vidoes, and that’s her choice, so we are doing something right!  I find that restricting things make them want it more.more. I trust my daughter and will do so until she gives me a reason not to.
|
Anonymous
Honest answer - unlimited, as long as grades are A/Bs. DS is 4th grader, he has a cell phone, chrome book and PS4. He probably is an unusual case, because he kind of monitors his own screen time, ie gets bored after an hour and goes to play something else (legos, outside, etc). Between extracurriculars and friends coming over to play, daily screen time is about 2 hours on weekdays and probably 3-4 hours on weekends. He mostly watches Youtube videos, cartoons and plays Minecraft. Occasionally he will spend a chunk of weekend playing new PS4 game. Flame away. |
Anonymous
| Unlimited on the weekends when we are home. But don't do what everyone else is doing, do what you think is appropriate. Tell your daughter to get used to it. My kids get a lot more screen-time than yours because I think it's fine, but they still complain that they don't get this or that object or privilege their friends have. Such is life. |