Screen time battles are one of the top causes of tantrums and arguments at home. Kids want more and more, and parents are thinking back to a time when they were younger and able to play on their own.
There is no doubt that screens and the advance of technology has been beneficial, but like everything moderation is important. There is a reason that the Academy of Pediatrics is advising strongly that screen time be limited to 2 hours or less a day. Children lack the executive functioning to limit themselves, and over-use of screens have been linked to poor sleep habits, behavior issues, anxiety and focus issues.
So how do we, as parents limit the screen time without starting a war 6 times a day in our house? Of course screens occupy our children and provide us the quiet respite we seek in our busy days.
Enter…”Circle with Disney”.
Circle with Disney provides the opportunity for families to sit down and talk about the cost of having screen time take over their day to day. Circle plugs into your home WI-fi and manages up to 11 devices. As parents, you can set a curfew for screens and applications, and make sure your teen is really using their phone as an alarm and not to snapchat until 3 am. You can also limit the amount of time per day each application is used on each screen. Disney opens the door to a conversation of healthy moderation, while giving parents the technologically advanced tool to take the frequency of arguing down.
Are your children going to LOVE you for setting these limits and taking away their screens? Right now, no. But it is important, almost vital to teach our children how to limit themselves and create healthy environments for themselves. Our youth is pushed into an over-scheduled, academic environment and it is important to teach them the skills necessary to be successful in our every changing society. One such way to do this is to help them set limits with themselves. As much as you (probably) won’t allow your children to eat ice cream every day for every meal, you should not allow them to have free access to social media and technology.
Learn more about Circle with Disney here.
Let me know how you’re doing. Contact me for a family consultation.
Katie Gately
The Behaved Brain
Healthier Kids – Happier Parents