Hello friends! How are you all doing today? I’ve lost count of what day or week it is in the quarantine at this point. There has been a hot topic being discussed in our house for weeks. And it is screen time for kids. Especially now that we are locked inside all day long there are concerns around how much screen time Lizzie is getting.
Since the day Lizzie was born we agreed on one thing, and that is limiting our screen time for kids. We were on the same page before we had kids too. It’s a huge pet peeve of ours to go out to dinner and see parents and kids on iPads and mobile phones. I always want to scream, “talk to your kids!” It’s a great time to teach your kids the art of conversation. I also believe in “monkey see, monkey do.” And if you are on the phone at dinner, your child is going to want to be on the phone at dinner too.
We work very hard to not be on our phone or iPad in front of Lizzie. And it is working, especially now that we are home with her all day long. She sees everything we are doing. It’s bad enough that we have to sit on our computers all day with her for work, I don’t want her to see us on our phones too. So we only have mobile device time when she is napping or in bed for the night.
Doctors Recommendations
The best thing I did for Lizzie was to find her a pediatrician that I liked and trusted. I actually interviewed him when I was pregnant. He’s super straight forward and follows The American Pediatric Association for all guidelines. And that includes screen time for kids.
They advise that screen time for kids 18 months and younger should be avoided. Children 18-24 months can watch educational shows with their parents to help show them what they are seeing. And children 2-5 can watch up to 1 hour a day. Now those are the general guidelines and you can read them here. And I would say you need to find a happy balance for you and your kids.
Lizzie’s Screen Time Pre-Quarantine
With those guidelines in mind, we tried really really hard to stick with them. Pre-quarantine, Lizzie’s screen time was about 1 hour a day, often times much less. She is in daycare during the day and there is no screen time there. When we bring her home we do not turn on the TV or let her watch an iPad or iPhone. We may FaceTime with her grandparents once or twice during the week though.
On the weekends we get a little wild though. We let her watch a couple of Sesame Street episodes on the TV, but no more than three, 30 minute episodes in one day. We also don’t let her watch them until the afternoon. In the morning we let her play alone and we play with her too. It’s great to see her little imagination start to form. We also don’t let her on the iPad or phone unless we are doing an alphabet or numbers exercise on an app.
There are obviously exceptions to this. We may be over at someone’s house and their TV is on When that happens we let it go and try to occupy her with other things. If a TV is on in the background for an extended period of time, it’s fine, everyone is going to be fine. We just focus her on other things.
Lizzie’s Screen Time During Quarantine
I’d love to say I’m rocking this, but I am not. In fact there are days where I am convinced that I have ruined her brain for good. I know that isn’t the case, but it’s hard. We spent 13 months sticking to such a strict schedule and two days into the quarantine, I blew it by 9am!
We struggled for weeks with what to do with Lizzie during the day while we worked from home and watched her. Until one day Mike suggested that we write down a schedule for her. This was genius and I’m surprised neither of us thought of it before. I mean we were thrown into a situation that neither of us thought would ever happen.
With our new schedule, Lizzie has about 1-3 hours of screen time a day. That includes FaceTime calls with her grandparents, Sesame Street on the television and news (if Mike or I are watching it). It is way more than I would like it to be, but I know that it is not forever. Once we are out of quarantine we will get back to our normal screen time schedule. In the end everything is temporary.
Lizzie’s Quarantine Schedule
In an effort to help anyone struggling out there I’m sharing Lizzie’s quarantine schedule. It’s pretty basic, however having it written down and being consistent every day has been a lifesaver for us.
Morning
- Get Up
- Eat
- Free Play and FaceTime with Grandparents
- Eat Again 🙂
- Educational Session – Letters and Numbers – Read Books
- Sesame Street (1-2 episodes, depending on our work schedules)
Mid-Day
- Lunch
- Naptime
Afternoon
- Snack
- Fun Activity (painting, coloring, washing dishes, fine motor skill activity)
- Practice Walking
- Free Play
Evening
- Dinner
- Bath
- Books and Bed
Having this written down is huge. While we try really hard to stick to it there are days when we struggle. I’ve finally realized that it’s ok. Not every day is going to be perfect and that is ok. Everyone is going to be fine and make it through. I’m a firm believer that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and I’m going to be the strongest woman out there!
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