My kids got out of school last week.
I have a long list of stuff I want to do with them this summer — hiking, trips to the pool, crafts at home, backyard tents. They have a long list, too — Minecraft, and Bike Race, and reruns of Phineas and Ferb, and some game where you become a longer and longer snake by eating lots of smaller snakes…
Screen time. It’s a struggle during the school year, but even more over the summer.
So when I read this mom’s account of “screen time anxiety,” it hit a nerve. She’s totally right — my anxiety over my kids being on electronics actually keeps them from enjoying the time they are allowed on their devices. And it implies that the things they enjoy aren’t things I approve of. Instead of setting time limits and nagging and warning and threatening when it’s time to turn off electronics, what if I paid attention to the games they’re playing and the things they’re learning?
Because not all of it’s bad. We’ve used our tablets for everything from looking up cookie recipes to identifying constellations at night to finding the plural of “octopus” (Webster says both “octopuses” and “octopi” are right. You’re welcome.). If I want curious kids who look things up to find the answer — well, in the 21st century that’s done online. If I want kids who maintain relationships with their friends, that’s done in emails and texts and multiplayer video games. If I want artistic kids who take pictures of the world around them and their experiences in it, that’s done on smartphones and tablets. And if the kids want to relax and play games on their tablet, shouldn’t they be able to without me constantly nagging them or feeling guilty?
We’re in a new age of parenting. Never before have people held entire computers in the palm of their hand, and we’re still figuring out what to do with them and how often. It’s hard, it really is.
I still plan to drag everyone out for hikes, and to the pool, and I’m sometimes going to make them turn off screens if we’re doing something together. But I’m going to try my hardest to let go of the underlying guilt every time the kids are online, and I’m going to try to take more of an interest in what they’re doing there. Heck, maybe I’ll even make my own cannibal snake.
What’s your policy on screen time?
CommentsFor kids’ activities and easy recipes, you can find Laura at Peace but not Quiet, and on facebook and Pinterest.
