Do you have set times of the day that your LO gets screen time? Do they have to 'earn' it in any way?
I've been really chill about the screen time lately with it being cold out, and when I am solo parenting all day I cave and let them play the phone or watch TV. My youngest stopped napping, so when I want her to rest I let her have my phone, which is probably terrible. I really need to cut back on this, but my sanity says otherwise.
cantaloupe / 6017 posts
We're starting to talk about this now. We haven't really done regular screen time. But on the occasions that my daughter gets to watch something she turns into a monster and won't stop asking about watching t.v. for the next week. It drives me nuts. She's getting to an age where we're considering letting her have a regular show time but aren't sure how to do it and how to help her understand that sort of a schedule (we were thinking once a week or something.)
Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure my mom only let me watch a video or something at a certain time each day (when she was cooking dinner). I guess if its connected to other routines in your day they might learn that it just happens at that time.
pomelo / 5573 posts
We have a rule of no tv in the morning on daycare days, so he usually gets to watch two "episodes" (about 10 minutes each, depending on what he picks) before dinner. On weekends it usually ends up being twice that, with two in the morning and two in the afternoon, but that's flexible depending on the weather and how much we need a break.
blogger / pomelo / 5400 posts
Yep - on normal days it typically happens around dinner for an hour or so. Weekends they may a couple shows in the mornings, too. I try to keep it limited to those times so that they don't complain about it all day.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
I have had to completely eliminate the ipad on the weekdays. My son can have it on the weekends only, and then with a timer for 15 minutes.
As for TV, it's not allowed at our house during the morning either, but my son continues to ask for it.
coconut / 8472 posts
We don't have a plan for the weekends, but during the week I try to restrict it to after dinner. We don't usually eat until 6 or 6:30 and then we do bedtime around 7, so he gets to watch for about a half hour.
pomegranate / 3127 posts
Very interested what others have to say... we don't have a regular screen time and I can't figure out how to set up something more regular without having constant fights over it. When I was a kid we had stuff on TV that we watched regularly, we obviously couldn't pick what the show was about that day, and when it was over it was over. But my family watches just about everything on the computer, and DS knows he can ask for one more thing and it's available... or worse, we'll put on something new we'd all enjoy watching and instead he'll start whining for that stupid Thomas movie he already saw 500 times.
wonderful kiwi / 23653 posts
Loosely... She gets TV in the mornings, it's probably on for the 1-1.5 hour while we eat breakfast, get ready, etc. I know DH puts on TV in the evening when he has to make dinner. We are just pretty strict about no TV after dinner/before bed. With phones/tablets, it's def case by case/day by day...
cantaloupe / 6669 posts
We had to stop screen time in the mornings altogether to get over the whining for it on school days. Now on weekends we will do it but we tell her it's a Saturday (or Sunday) treat.
Other than that, we aren't the best about having her earn screen time. The times I know I should probably take it away as a consequence, are when I selfishly want to use it as a babysitter. 
pear / 1510 posts
DD gets one show when we get home and I'm making dinner. Right now, she's in to Sophia, Elena and Doc. On weekends we'll let her watch a long movie. She currently loves all princesses, so it usually means Tiana or Ariel.
eggplant / 11861 posts
I am not big on screen time, but DD watches TV and songs on my phone. I try to keep it where it is controlled by us, when we tell her she can or not in a routine, some mornings it is on, some it is not.
Same with evening.
I definitely have it off by 6:30 no matter what so we have a good 30 mins of quiet time for books and talking before bed time routine
persimmon / 1495 posts
We let our almost 3.5 year old watch one show in the morning while we get ready. Then he usually watches one or two short shows in the afternoon/early evenings.
We just started a new system to limit the amount of screen time and help control the whining and asking for more shows. I made 3 "TV tickets" (just squares cut out of construction paper) and a little pocket. We talked about how he gets 1 show per ticket each day, and when the tickets are gone, TV is done for the day. Before each show, he has to "pay" us. It's worked really well so far and he's not asking for more TV once the tickets are gone. He also wanted to watch a 45 minute Mickey Mouse show the other day, and I told him it was worth 2 tickets, and he accepted that no problem.
grapefruit / 4903 posts
Yes, if we don't have anywhere to be, they get one show after breakfast and one after naptime. They watch whatever is on PBS in the morning and take turns choosing the afternoon show. It's the privilege I'm most likely to take away as punishment.
nectarine / 2821 posts
@Mama Bird: that's a great point. The whole idea of on demand is such a pain. Very convenient and yet a pain!
honeydew / 7444 posts
DD (4.5) knows she gets 2 shows (40-45 min) after school, but she loses her tv privileges if she throws a fit or is difficult in the morning when getting ready. No tv in the morning.
On the weekends they can't bother me about tv until after 10am. We are a little more lax, especially when we have to get ready for company coming over.
Our tv is in the basement so that also helps.
persimmon / 1129 posts
I'm lax about TV time. She probably watches 1-2 hours a day, but usually while she's doing other things like coloring.
We don't let her do anything on tablets or phones because we found it really negatively affects her behavior. I find that so surprising because we're really lax about TV time and that doesn't seem to cause behavior problems.
hostess / cantaloupe / 6486 posts
Yes. Both get about 1.5 hours when they wake up in the morning and DD1 gets a 30 minute show after her nap while DD2 finishes her nap. If DH is home sometimes sports or a sit com is on for but before dinner but that's about it. It took a long time to cut back to that though!
apricot / 370 posts
My daughter (almost 3.5) gets to watch tv while my son naps. She knows it gets turned off as soon as he wakes up which has pretty much eliminated fights over screen time. We live in a small house so tv is the only way I can keeps her quiet enough for him to nap, but it works out well.
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