cargobikemilf

Idk why I said my mom puts the younger kid to bed — it’s my husband. Lol I wish my mom was around to help with bedtime.

Good luck!! Would highly recommend this book for troubleshooting screen time. There is a section where the author asks a bunch of experts and researchers what THEY do with their kids and I found the variation really comforting. I always found the “follow your gut mama!” type of advice annoying but I think this is one area where kids do vary a lot, and seeing actual examples of how lots of smart people structure screen time was helpful.

A rare parenting W:

My kids are 3.5 and almost 2. For the past year, we had been implementing an “unlimited TV on rainy/travel/sick days, no TV otherwise” policy and were experiencing MASSIVE meltdowns whenever it was time to turn the TV off. I suspected it was due to my older kid being particularly sensitive to the high-stim nature of most kids tv and also not understanding that rainy/travel/sick days occur with regular frequency. So every TV day felt like THE LAST ONE EVER and thus the hill they would die on.

I was searching for some data backed guidance that goes a little further than “is screen time bad?” and ended up devouring the book “The Art of Screen Time” in one sitting. The author has a very Emily-like approach and introduced me to a helpful “junk food” metaphor that really resonated — we offer a little treat with every meal and our kids rarely tantrum over sweets (or binge). Maybe TV should get the same treatment???

We decided to switch from infrequent TV binges to scheduled, limited TV time every day from 5pm-6pm, where the kids take turns choosing from a limited menu of chill kids shows while I cook dinner/wrap up work.

And we have not had a TV related tantrum in 2 weeks!!!!! And bonus — their ability to take turns & share during playtime has slightly improved, and I get to enjoy one of my favorite activities (cooking nice dinners) in peace. We also do 10m of app time while my mom puts the younger kid to bed — my 3.5yo helps me with my Duolingo Spanish lesson and then I help her with her Duolingo ABCs lesson. The green bird is appeased. Win win win.