Lately, the amount of screen time my family consumes had been increasing. I am not sure when or how it happened, but it happened. It was too hot for them to play outside longer. I needed them occupied so I could finish this one project. It just gave some peace when the littles were fighting. There was always a reason but there just kept being more and more reasons.
And we paid the price.
All of our attitudes were different. There was more yelling. We were short with each other. After a while, I reached my breaking point and I knew we need to make some radical changes. My decision was affirmed when I read the book “Habits of the Household“. So many things that I desperately wanted to establish within my household were not happening because a huge portion of the day was spent with them in front of a screen. Think about this – my children go to school and I go to work. I really only have a few hours of time each day with them. To love on them, to play games, to help establish healthy rhythms that they will need later in life. To put it bluntly – I was wasting that time.
So, I started with this (and yes, I said “started” because I still believe there needs to be even LESS screen time) – no screens Monday – Friday. On Friday night, we will watch a movie together as a family.
The biggest question I got was – “What are we supposed to do instead?” So, we made a list together of things they could do outside. Things they could do inside. Things they could do together. Things they could do by theirselves. This list is posted in our kitchen so that anytime the question comes up, they know where to find their answer.
And let’s be real, some days this is REALLY hard but I have only seen good come from it. It has forced us as parents to manage our time on screens. It has made my children focus on using their imagination. It has made room for serious conversations. It has allowed for more laughter. There is still fighting and some yelling. This didn’t magically take it all away. But has really put things into perspective.
