Screen time

Alright, I’ve absolutely had it with my son’s attitude that I believe is from having way too much screen time. We use it in the background, and he has the option to watch it basically whenever. I’m wanting to limit it and cut back on it dramatically. He is 4.5 years old. He just watches YouTube 90% of the time which some of the things on there are not ok in my opinion. I will admit though I do use it as a way to help me get through the day sometimes, like if I need to do housework or tend to his 10 month old sister, etc. how do you mention screen time, what do you allow your children to watch? Do you pick? How long do they get? When they don’t have screen time what else do they do and do you have the tv on at all for background noise in the house or not? Send help pls 😅 xx

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We play music on you tube for background noise sometimes

I've heard that Tonies can be a really good option to exchange for screen time (they're a bit of an investment though) x

I totally agree! My 6 year old is the same. I don’t let him do gaming or anything but it’s just the constant stimulation. When he was on kids you tube during car rides he was horrendous behaviourally. I did lie and said the app stopped working back then (when he was around 4). Now he’s old enough to understand that it isn’t good for his brain. I believe YouTube is terrible because of the constant changes in what they’re watching- over stimulating and their little brains can’t handle that much info/changes. He’s great now. I’ll give him a time warning for no screen time time and he gets out the craft box during that time or plays something (if I’m busy with my 4mo and can’t be with him) Also, the transition was tricky with his iPad with the car rides so we used Spotify as a change between.

We invested in a Tonie . Got the box second hand for £50 and got her cocomelon tonie for it yesterday . She loves it . Have ordered a few more . It's great for background noise , they have nursery rhymes , educational Tonies etc . I do recommend getting the creative Tonie as its usually cheaper and you can play alot of different things on it that are available for free from the Tonie app . Also things like creative toys help distract them , stickers, colouring books anything they can put their imagination to .

I haven’t used background tv. Just used when needed and some days we may watch a movie or short film in iview. However my daughter is only 2y. I have recently found an IG account @uschooler who shares a lot of info about screen time etc, you might find it useful

Thank you so much for your responses! I have never heard of a Tonie, if anyone wants to give me some insight? What do they do? 🥰 We have a leapfrog which is absolutely loves to use and I let him go into his room and play with that when he gets a little too overwhelmed with everything and needs some time on his own. definitely going to look into making up a little no screen time craft box & a music playlist I can play through a speaker during the day for background noise!

So it's a little box that you put different characters on - they have peppa , cocomellon , bing , hungry caterpiller, they have lullaby and nightlight as well and so many more they magnetically connect to the top and play the songs that are on them . The child can move it around with them - it's easy to swap out the characters - you can make your own tonies with the creative ones - like record your own voice or reading their favourite book . Also the tonies app has different songs , stories and educational recordings

I have a code for £15 off tonies box they are currently ariund 80 brand new rfc-l5e-rcz-9aa ❤️

My daughter watches 20 minutes a couple of times a week, other than that the TV is off so her watching is always intentional. We are also very careful about what she watches and try to avoid anything overstimulating, she likes a lot of BBC programmes like number blocks and olga da polga. My daughter never asks for it because she doesn’t even know having tv on is an option most of the time. It will be tough at first if you cut down on the screens but so worth it.

On a good day, my 3 YO watches about an hour. So I can have two 30-minute uninterrupted brakes. If I'm sick, don't sleep well, or have poor mental health, it varies a lot. But I try to give 30-minute screen time brakes when I can on those days. Sometimes, I just lay on the floor, and she plays next to me.

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