Limiting Your Child's Screen Time

It’s brought up quite frequently during interviews and the first days of a new nanny assignment, “We limit screen time” or “We only let our kids watch the iPad during meal time”.  More than usually I just follow the ‘screen time structure’ that parents have already put into place in their homes, but that doesn’t always mean that I agree with it.

CC Image Courtesy of Petras Gagilas on Flickr

I’ve been a nanny for the last ten years and have hung out with kids of all ages and personalities.  One of the consistencies that I’ve noticed is that the majority of kids can’t get enough of their iPads, television shows or video games.  I've always liked the parents that are a bit lax when it comes to this issue, whose kids don’t have a timer set limiting their media usage.  I feel like the kids from those families are learning to be independent and find their own happy medium.  And more often than not, I feel like the set timer method turns kids into 'screen-time fiends'.  Those kids turn into the panic-driven ones: "Just five more minutes Mom!" and "I just have to beat this one more level!"

Trying to instill a healthy balance is wonderful, but if I had a timer ticking away while I was doing work on my computer, I’m pretty sure I’d become the anxiety stricken crazy person that needed “just five more minutes” when my time was up as well.  I think that kids should be able decompress after school or extracurricular activity and just sit on the couch with their media outlet for awhile without their parents ‘on their backs’ about only having ‘thirty seconds left’ and having to turn a TV show off in the middle of an episode.  I don’t think an adult would be too happy if he had to turn the television off in the middle of his favorite show and a lot of the time I side on the kids' side with these issues.

Kids shouldn’t be allowed to spend hours on end with their media outlets, but hey, when I've had a rough day at work or school I enjoy being able to unwind on the couch... without knowing that my time is limited to exactly twenty minutes – why aren’t kids allowed to enjoy that same luxury?