Screen time

Do what you’ve got to do! I remember when pregnant with my first I said 0 screen time. Eventually it ends up happening whether you like it or not, whether it’s other people doing it or you watching it yourself, or using it to buy yourself some time. It is what it is. Just make sure you have quality time with them too (you probably already do) but just make a conscious effort sometimes to switch off the screens and do something as a family. I know the guilt feeling though, but that only comes from pressure of society that most people with one child, no job and not much else to do came up with 😅 life doesn’t work like that for everyone. We don’t have unlimited time to spend with our kids and kids only. Sometimes mummy needs to work, eat, do some housework. Do what you need to do and don’t stress about what someone else might think x

Tv goes on at 5.30pm for 1.5 hours every day, with weekends allowing a bit longer (2 or 2.5 hours)

I allow my daughter 1 hour of TV time when she gets in from school to unwind. I finish wfh at 4.30pm and she knows once my laptop is closed, TV time is over.

Then it’s usually dinner time so whilst I make it, she’s allowed to free play with her toys or go out in the garden. After dinner we do 10 mins of reading and 10 mins of Maths. Then it’s upstairs for bath/bedtime routine with my husband.

During the warmer months she often will just go straight into the garden to play rather than watch TV for an hour, so there’s that.

No judgement here on the screen time, but just a note to consider about the tablets. They can be more of an issue than just the screen by itself, and "educational" apps are not all they're made out to be. They're designed around engagement, not education, which means that the priority is not to educate your child, it's to keep them engaged. There are algorithms that adjust the difficulty of questions if the child is struggling, to make them easier, which is not conducive to learning. Kids also don't learn the gratification of just solving a problem for the sake of solving it, without the dopamine rush of those flashy lights and trophy awards when they get a right answer.

Lots of parents will claim their kids learn lots from educational apps, and I don't blame them, but it's not that the kids are learning, the kids (and parents) are being told they're learning tons by these apps, because the app wants to keep them engaged. Just something to be cautious of.

We do a little tv in the morning and, maybe once or twice a week, a Disney / kids movie. My husband uses it before bath time, though we're trying to cut that out. I don't use tablets and don't plan to. When I work, it's during nap time, after kiddo goes to bed, or my husband takes over for a bit. I realize I'm lucky to have this setup and not everyone has that option. You do what you need to. I just wanted to make sure you were aware because a lot of parents aren't.

I would start by shutting the tv out of work hours. That's unnecessary and can give you more space to play and do something together. The 1h per day you need it to finish work, replace the tablet (kota is totally right) by controller TV time (no youtube kids for example. Just a specific cartoon). That would be a great first step. Kids can learn how to play on their own so over time you can try to cut tv time while working a couple days a week so they can try to play by themselves. And end up having 2x1 hours a week of tv time while working.