Screen time detox

So if you don't already know, we are two parents that work full time with 3 kids. We also live in northern Ontario and it has just been a WEIRD winter. So during this season of "surviving not thriving" we had let the tablet time get a little to free in our home. What started off as a Christmas present two years ago for travelling and special occasions, became a new hobby for the kids. They started to just ask for their tablets and we would just give it to them, because in return mama would get a "break". Everyday was different in terms of how long they would spend on it but it was anywhere between 30 minutes and 3 hours (on the weekends). Yes I am ashamed to admit that. My kids do however spend a lot of time outside when we can and they are very active. One of the 3 kids was having some super bad emotional outbursts daily. It was getting stressful and out of hand.

So with all my research we decided to try a screen time detox. The results= AMAZING! On day one, the emotional outbursts were probably even worse than before, and there was a lot of "can I have my tablet" whining. On day 2 and 3 same but a little less outburst. I was getting skeptical and thinking maybe this is not doing anything. BY day 4 there was no more asking and the behavior was much better. By day 6 and 7 it was the weekend and I had some much better behaved kids. I am not going to say they were all of a sudden perfect and there was no fighting or tantrums. But it was like night and day with one of my kids. Like I said before two of the kids were not very affected by the screen time.

I have three kids, and all three have different personalities. SO there is no one size fits all for parenting. But if this sounds familiar and you think your child could use a detox, I HIGHLY recommend it.

We are going to be setting some very strict timer rules around screen time now as we reintroduce it.

As always, you do YOU, and what works for your motherhood journey!

This is a judgement free zone.

XO, Christine