One of my New Year’s Resolutions this year was to stop beating myself up over the amount of time my daughter spends in front of the screen. GeekMom Amy’s fantastic post last fall about the AAP guidelines for screen time, as well as GeekDad’s recent look at a study that advocates not limiting how children want to play, were both excellent incentives to let myself relax.
Over the holidays I also came across a thought-provoking blog on Parents.com that suggests instead of negatively limiting one activity, we should be positively enforcing others:
So with all this great advice milling about my brain, I pondered the amount of time our kiddo spends in front of a screen. By paying close attention to her television and computer habits, I’ve discovered that the best changes to her screen time are actually two that I've made on my end – not hers.
Stop offering to turn on the television. I hear the words, “Would you like to watch a show?” escape my lips several times a week when I want to cook a meal, clean up the house, or just sit down and take a break. I’ve even caught myself turning down her request to play and putting on a new episode of Team Umizoomi instead, just so I can get the dishes in the dishwasher.
Since I’ve become aware of my weakness for offering one more show, I’ve stopped doing it, and I’ve found she doesn’t want to watch as much TV as I always thought she did. She does, however, continue to insist on playing Dance Central as much as ever. But that’s okay – it’s exercise!
Leave my phone in the other room. This is tougher than I thought it would be. Teaching myself to resist the urge to check Twitter every ten minutes is an ongoing process, but I’m learning that the world won’t leave me behind if I stay off the Internet. When my phone isn’t visible, it’s out of sight, out of mind; our kiddo doesn’t ask to play her games on it.
Thanks to all of the great perspectives in the articles I mentioned, and the changes I’ve been making myself, I’m finally letting go of my mommy guilt about screen time. In the battle of Mommy vs. Screen Time, Mommy is victorious!
We do loosely try to stick to the two hours a day recommendation, but I’ve accepted that some days it’s just not going to happen. Also, I never count the hours before 7:00 AM on the days she wakes up at 5:15 AM as screen time, and you shouldn't either. Those are freebies.
