Even at a young age, the amount of screen time kids crave is rapidly accelerated. Mobile media time from 1 – 8 year olds has more than doubled in the recent 5 – 6 years. Teenagers spend more time staring at screens than any other activity, including late at night when they should be doing homework or falling asleep. It’s not surprising that parents want to learn about limiting screen time for kids.
It’s best to start young. It’s hard to tell a teenager to keep a tablet out of their room at night when you didn’t start a few years ago. It helps to enforce limits for yourself so you can set a good example. Start establishing “family time” that has nothing to do with any screens, be they smartphone displays, tablet displays, televisions, and computer screens. Be sure to follow any rules you set yourself and enforce them.
It helps to have access to parental control and monitoring tools so that you can set limits on their use and monitor them when they are using a device, so that you can be sure they’re not using it for anything they’re not supposed to. If they need to use the internet past their bedtime for schoolwork, you can keep an eye on them to make sure that’s exactly what they’re doing.
Parental control suites include a tool that allows limiting screen time for kids by schedule an “on” and “off” time. You should be given the option to lock all of their devices and computers at specific times, or only some websites and apps while allowing them to access certain apps.
Limiting Screen Time for Kids, Within Reason
You don’t want to outright keep your kids away from screens. Let them enjoy their favorite apps and games as a reward for good behavior, such as good grades in school and doing the chores. The idea is to teach them healthy habits so that they can be more productive with their time.
Whenever you have to use your own phone or view your own computer when your kids are round, make sure they understand why. State that you are only using your phone to check the weather, or because you are expect to receive an important message from a relative to business associate.
Use a parental control suite that makes it easy to create profiles for each kid. It should be an easy process to manage each child’s profile and to control all of the devices in the home.
Perhaps the best program/app for limiting screen time for kids is Qustodio. It comes with many additional features which vary depending on the type of device and operating system. Its “Time Controls by Device” tool can be used on every smartphone, tablet, and PC in the family. Learn about the pricing options and use Qustodio coupons.