How Do I Handle Screen Time for My Child

In our 29 years of marriage, my husband and I have moved 17 times. Yes, that is a lot. No, we never planned to move that much!

It was never for bad reasons and I am grateful for that. It was always for a better job, better location, or better house. We were also first-time home buyers during the housing boom of 2000 in the Northern Virginia area. It was CRAZY back then and since then, we have been just caught up in so many crazy times!

With all these moves, I tried my best to not stress out my kids. While packing and unpacking, they got to watch a lot more TV than they normally did. It was around when my daughter was 6 and my boys were 4 years old that I began to notice patterns with our moves. 

Each time we would move and they would get to watch more TV, they would each put on just a little bit of weight. Obviously because they were young, they were still cute and it was not noticeable to anyone else. But I could see that they put on just an extra pound or two. Then after we were settled and the TV would stop, they would lose the extra weight.

In absolutely no way am I advocating anybody put a little kid on a diet or anything like that but it is no secret that childhood obesity is on the rise. and it is a serious issue. Kids are also developing diseases that were unheard of in children a decade ago. 

Why I am bringing up the TV and weight connection I had is that many times, we do not consider long term consequences or issues that may come up because of our current day less than stellar choices. And if we do not, the future battle could be so overwhelming, we may not be able to handle it. 

My most favorite Benjamin Franklin quote is “an ounce of prevention is worth a  pound of cure”. 

And this is so very applicable when it comes to screen time.

Although it has not been officially recognized, do we really need someone else to tell us that something like video game addiction is real before we accept it?

Do all kids who play video games get addicted? Of course not.  

Do all kids who use smartphones and are active on social media get addicted? Of course not. 

But how does it happen? How do we know which child is more susceptible? We don’t. 

I have three kids close in age, two of them being twins, and their level of addiction/attraction/use of screens has all been very different. 

And that is the issue. We don’t know how it is going to affect your unique child as they grow into adolescence and young adulthood. And with something like screens, it is better to err on the side of caution because it’s easier to let them have more as they get older than it is to pull back and reduce.

I have nothing but compassion for younger parents. and I do not judge them at all. When I think about all of the house hunting, furniture buying, shopping, errand running that I did as a young mom when my kids were little, I know if I had a smartphone back then, I would have absolutely used it. And I know parents feel guilty about it as it is. 

And so much of it is beyond their control. Even our educators, and school system, they are supposed to be up to date with child development. You see all of the studies done about screen time, and yet for their convenience and cost cutting, our schools put our kids on screens for everything!

So I know it is hard. But when it comes to how much screen time for your kids, look at the people around you who have gone before you. What kinds of problems do you see? What would you like to avoid when it comes to your kids?

Make these decisions when your kids are young because like I said, it’s always easier to loosen the reins as they get older, but so much harder to reign them in.