Kindergarten parents - how much screen time are your kids getting?

[Anonymous]

Our daughter is in Arlington schools, and they only give about a half hour of work per day, most of which is incredibly boring and repetitive. DS and I are teleworking and have pretty demanding schedules. We are relying far too much on screen time -- probably 2-3 hours of "learning" apps like ABC Mouse and another 2-3 hours of television. I feel absolutely horrible about it but really don't know what else to do.

[Anonymous]

Our rising kindergartener is getting about two hours per day. Less on a normal day, more on movie night

[Anonymous]

More than that op. Don’t sweat it, really.

[Anonymous]

My sympathies, OP. My 3 and 4 year olds are watching 4 hours a day. It sucks but there's not much we can do about it right now.

[Anonymous]

Probably 3-4 hours a day between the pad and tv. Broken up throughout the day.

[Anonymous]

Still only one hour on weekdays. Half TV and half tablet. DS goes to a private school where the kids have about 3 hours of engagement including daily meetings with their teachers. On weekends he gets to watch a movie.

It’s so hard for DH and me. We also have a toddler. Luckily everyone in my department is on a week on/week off furlough. It hurts financially but we were going nuts over here.

[Anonymous]

So I have a kindergarten student, and a 3.5 year old. We've actually tapered off a bit, but this has a direct correlation in me doing less work. I'm lucky I have a flexible job that had been understanding of my situation and toned down the expectations accordingly.

My older one still gets at least 2 hours a day, split between "learning" apps and netflix. Sometimes a bit more. Mainly she spends the entire time the little one is sleeping on the iPad while we both work. The rest of the day my DH and I trade off, though I have been doing probably 75% of the childcare Mon-Fri.

It sucks all around OP. But I've lowered my expectations about what I'll get done at work. I've said no to assignments that I normally would say yes to. I am fortunate my boss understands! He's done a great job of stripping out the essentials and checking it to see if I need support. Mainly because I am one of the maybe 20% of the team that have little kids (under age 12).

[Anonymous]

We have a babysitter for our 3 kids but even so there is a fair amount of screen time for the kindergartener who is the oldest.

- 2 hours of school screen time via Zoom or prerecorded teacher content.
- Another 1 hour on learning apps for school (RAZ Kids or Epic for reading, Moby Max for math, Brainzy for both math and reading, Quizlet).
- 30 minutes on a drawing app.
- 45 minutes of video before dinner
- 10 minute YouTube lego video before bed if she does some extra reading

Also, she sometimes Zooms with friends and family on top of that.

[Anonymous]

Outschool has been a life-saver. It is "screen time," but it sure beats television or video games. I'd love to be the sort of family that can juggle two full-time jobs while home-schooling but that just isn't possible for us.

[Anonymous]

I'm in the same boat-both working full time with fairly demanding jobs. Lots of learning things, but mostly on screens, and then a few hours break in the afternoon to just play with toys, quiet time, walking the dog. Buuut, we're probably talking 4-5 hours at least. I hate it, but I don't have a better solution

[Anonymous]

Normally, none. Now, enough to do whatever school activities are done via Zoom, and Facetiming a friend or relative every couple of days.

[Anonymous]

Gone from 6 down to 4 and feeling pretty ok about it

[Anonymous]

about 2-3 hours a day, not including school Zoom, which is about 45 mins.

Combo of iPad and video games with older brother. Doesn't watch much TV.

[Anonymous]

Here is my opinion for what its worth. Most kids that age are awake 12 hours a day, give or take an hour.
Even if they are watching 4 hours a day, than means 8 hours a day they are not. 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon or evening is not terrible in my opinion as long as they are doing other things as well.

A kid being on screens 8-10 hours a day with no outside time whatsoever, thats a problem.

[Anonymous]

Mine is in 1st, with about 1.5 total hours of school either on Zoom or additional work. She doesn't get any other screen time, except occasional Zoom playdates. It's not an option here and never has been. I said on another thread that having it as an option but not allowing unlimited time sounds harder to manage.