Setting Summer Screen Time Rules

Summertime and the living is easy - until it comes to keeping our kids from turning into rabid screen time zombies! It seems like the day school wraps up all our kids want to do is play on their devices or watch tv all day long. It is a constant battle to get them to stop playing Fortnite, Minecraft, and Animal Crossing. Plus, the endless streaming options make watching tv all hours of the day possible – and extremely difficult to control.

The first thing you need to know is you are absolutely not the only parent dealing with this problem. So, don’t beat yourself up! It is perfectly fine to relax your screen time rules during the summer. The goal is to set some boundaries that keep them from turning into screen time zombies.

Create a Family Media Plan

Recently, I discovered that Healthy Children from the American Academy of Pediatrics has tools that are super helpful in setting screen time boundaries. They offer a Media Time Calculator that allows you to enter the amount of time your child needs each day for different activities, such as sleeping, eating, exercising, chores, and more. As you enter in the time needed for these important activities, you see how much time is leftover for media use.

Additionally, they offer a Family Media Plan tool that allows you to create a customized media plan for your family and each child. For example, you establish which areas of the house will be screen free zones, device curfews, and recreational co-viewing/co-playing plans.

To-Dos Before Screen Time

It’s also smart to use your kids’ love for their screens to encourage them to get some stuff done. For example, have a set list of to-dos your kids have to complete before they can have any screen time. And, don’t just stick to their chores. Add in to-dos such as personal hygiene tasks, reading, exercising, and playing outside.

Another tip for parents of older kids – make them work for the Wi-Fi password. This requires you to change it each evening, but your kids know they must do everything on their list to get the new Wi-Fi password.

A Screen Time Bedtime

During summertime, bedtimes are later. Along with bedtimes, we tend to let our kids stay up later watching tv or playing videogames. Unfortunately, if we give them free rein, they will stay up all hours of the night doing these things. This is super unhealthy and the blue light from screens will make it harder to get a good night’s sleep. As a family, set a screen time bedtime. This should be a bit of time before your child’s actual bedtime.

Family Time is Screen Free

Do your best to have screen free family time. Start by making family rules, such as no screens at the dinner table. Then, sit aside time every week to spend a few hours doing things together as a family without devices, such as going on a hike, playing a board game, or telling ghost stories.

What summer screen time rules do you have for your family?