No.

kids age 10 and 13. 10 year old can talk to friends via phone or facetime for 45 mins or so each day after school. On weekends tv is allowed or the like.
13 year old wants to play playstation with friends, but we are not allowing that every day any longer now that virtual school has started. He can do it every other day or so for max 45min or hour.
He talks to freinds via iphone most evenings for a while. No phones or ipads during school day.
I think they need time to get back into just being without stimulation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am letting them play Minecraft right now, actually. It’s been a long, overwhelming first day of school, and if they want to decompress for a while, so be it.

Same. Mine are watching YouTube garbage (home run derby etc) but it's how they relax. Both super athletic and tons of time outside.

When is all this “tons” of time outside if they are on screens for the majority of the day?

10yo gets after-school screens if he's playing or chatting with friends. We feel like the kid needs that social time.

They go outside after lunch during the break (1 hour), and after school is done, they do what they want. For my 4th grader, that's more screens. We used to only allow computer/video games on weekends, but with online school we switched it. Weekends are the screen free days, and it's working.

Nope. They need to go outside for a couple of hours.

Anonymous wrote:Not unless they earn extra time with extra chores.

Oh good grief.

Get them involved with a board game, or a book, or an art project. Don't they have non-tablet toys they can play with to wind down?

It's hard for sure. I am concerned about all the screen time so our general rule is no screens on weekdays except Wednesdays since there is less zoom on that day....BUT - my 12 year old DD is allowed to check her phone for a few minutes a few times a day to check texts etc.

I'm okay with them watching a little TV on Wednesdays (at least they aren't staring at a computer screen, it's a bit better for your eyes I feel like). On weekends I'm more lax - there is more TV and my older DD can use her phone more.

I get that boys are more into video games. I think if that is their way to unwind, just limit it on weekdays and make sure they are taking screen breaks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My boys jumped on Minecraft and roblox. They have gotten used to playing everyday.

Are you allowing kids to be on screens AFTER being in virtual school all day?

They both do play soccer. One kid has practice later today.

Don't punish the kids because school is now virtual. Give them the same fun screen time they got when school was in person. Virtual school is not fun screen time for them. They'll hate school as they'll view it as taking away screen time they used to get.

I don't know...I tried that in the Spring. Life got better for everyone in the home when we cut off screen time except for school and facetime calls. The kids got so snappy and grumpy when they had extra video time instead of playing outside.

Now we're doing 15 minutes after school ends and then their internet access turns off.

Anonymous wrote:My boys jumped on Minecraft and roblox. They have gotten used to playing everyday.

Are you allowing kids to be on screens AFTER being in virtual school all day?

They both do play soccer. One kid has practice later today.

Don't punish the kids because school is now virtual. Give them the same fun screen time they got when school was in person. Virtual school is not fun screen time for them. They'll hate school as they'll view it as taking away screen time they used to get.

Mine go outside as long as the weather is nice. When it gets dark at 4:45 we relax our screen rules a little but still send them out until dark.

We don't do screens during the weekday, but weekends they are glued to netflix and video games. They are 5 and 6.

Ours are 10 and 14. We are back to no screens on weekdays (we had screens every day over the summer). Well, Tuesday through Thursday. Monday after school work and chores we’ll likely have an hour or two of screens.

Ours get plenty of time on the weekend- 2 hours in the evening Fridays, 2 hours morning and 2 in the evening sat and sun.

It’s ok to change the rules.