No judgement here, OP. My kids are in college bow, and we never had screen limits. I did control what they watched on TV or played on the computer, but didn't control the time. I watched a lot of their shows with them and we'd talk about them together. (There were lots of non-screen activities too - whatever we felt in the mood for).

PBS kids is great. Magic School Bus can be streamed from Netflix. Lots of the classic sit-coms are available.

FWIW, my kids excelled in school. Abundant screen time didn't seem to affect their achievement levels.

Anonymous wrote:I'm so glad we never put a tv in any of the common rooms - it helps us keep the screens to a small minimum.

People who don’t watch tv are weird.

I am strict with mine but it depends on age, personality, energy levels, weather, etc. One thing I do is compel my kids to do 30-40 min exercise with me daily. They also have a reading quota. One thing kids like that cuts screen time is dancing. But what working parent would be able to do all this? I couldn't if I worked.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is what happens when you don’t teach children from a young age to amuse themselves. We use screens too much to keep our kids quiet and still in stead of teaching them these skills. Not judging just stating a fact.

Shut up, sanctimommy.

We’re in a pandemic. Can’t you find some kindness even now?

Eh, PP is right. It’s a basic skill a lot of kids haven’t been taught. It was an unkind statement.

Yes it was. This is an unprecedented situation. It’s not the time to wax poetic about kids not knowing how to entertain themselves. My 3 year old isn’t going to entertain herself for weeks on end.

Exactly, while you are trying to home school older children too, and possibly work from home.

I can’t fold this early! So far we’ve been holding firm.

Our screen use has actually gone down . This nice weather has been a huge help. They happily play outside most of the day. Before this , their was never time to play outside during the week with sports, homework, school events.

Anonymous wrote:My grandmother lived through the Great Depression and had one (!) paper doll for whom she created clothes and accessories. I am astonished that children used to live like this and I would truly like to know how it worked.

What does "worked" mean? If you grandmother had screens she's have used them.

Anonymous wrote:My grandmother lived through the Great Depression and had one (!) paper doll for whom she created clothes and accessories. I am astonished that children used to live like this and I would truly like to know how it worked.

I'm sure I'll get attacked for this, but I'll bite:

1) When your child asks for something, repeat back what they want and tell them you will do it as soon as you finish what you're working on. This will build their patience. The frustration usually stems from feeling that they're not being heard, not actually that they can't wait.

2) Play with your child in increments. For example, play for 10 minutes, 5 minutes away, come back for 10. (gradually lengthen the time) Explain to your child when you start that you have 5 minutes but then you need to send 1 email (or whatever task) and then will be back to play in X minutes. When you return, engage. If they're building with blocks (for example) comment with specifics on what they're doing. "I like how you used blue here and green here. What's this part used for?" You can gradually extend the time.

3) Include them in what you're doing. There are small parts of every house task a kid can do and they learn quickly and can actually be helpful if you teach them. For example for a 2 year old they are capable of taking clothes to laundry room, picking up toys, taking dishes to the sink after every meal and setting the table (with some assistance).

4) Have your kids clean up after themselves. Before the next activity or meal, have them clean up what they played with so you aren't having to do it later.

My kids - very young - miss school and their friends and are very confused about why? They are watching more screen time than I would like but I try make sure they are watching things where they can learn something. This morning all 3 including the 2 year old spent 30 minutes watching a kids workout video. It was a hoot to watch them workout together and they had fun.

Whatever it takes OP.

One of my kids will not be able to easily "wind down" from the screen after this period is over if we completely give up on screen limits. The other one will do just fine either way. I have to keep limits because of the one.

My grandmother lived through the Great Depression and had one (!) paper doll for whom she created clothes and accessories. I am astonished that children used to live like this and I would truly like to know how it worked.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is what happens when you don’t teach children from a young age to amuse themselves. We use screens too much to keep our kids quiet and still in stead of teaching them these skills. Not judging just stating a fact.

Shut up, sanctimommy.

We’re in a pandemic. Can’t you find some kindness even now?

Eh, PP is right. It’s a basic skill a lot of kids haven’t been taught. It was an unkind statement.

Yes it was. This is an unprecedented situation. It’s not the time to wax poetic about kids not knowing how to entertain themselves. My 3 year old isn’t going to entertain herself for weeks on end.

Right. And that’s what PP is saying that it’s a skill that’s not really taught anymore. This situation is making that evident. Personally I am not worrying about screen limits and we will use them as needed, but so far that has been pretty minimal. We are all doing what we can to get through.

Everyone is doing their best and no one needs lecturing about “skills.”

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is what happens when you don’t teach children from a young age to amuse themselves. We use screens too much to keep our kids quiet and still in stead of teaching them these skills. Not judging just stating a fact.

Shut up, sanctimommy.

We’re in a pandemic. Can’t you find some kindness even now?

Eh, PP is right. It’s a basic skill a lot of kids haven’t been taught. It was an unkind statement.

Yes it was. This is an unprecedented situation. It’s not the time to wax poetic about kids not knowing how to entertain themselves. My 3 year old isn’t going to entertain herself for weeks on end.

Right. And that’s what PP is saying that it’s a skill that’s not really taught anymore. This situation is making that evident. Personally I am not worrying about screen limits and we will use them as needed, but so far that has been pretty minimal. We are all doing what we can to get through.

It’s so hard. We have held to 30 min in the am since the 4 year old gets up at 6:30. It it takes both me and dh full on to not have screens the rest of the day. We took thurs and Friday mostly off anyway since we were sent home from our offices and dh can’t telework anyway. Come Monday it’ll be a lot more screens so I can get stuff done for work and dh take care of the baby and the preschooler.