Parenting skills

red dragon

red dragon

Justiceforall
Innovator
Some here have kids, let's have a discussion on parenting skills/ tips and tricks.
Our major concern,
How to reduce screen time for a 5 year old? What's the max allowable limits? Since we are not very careful, and have multiple ipads, laptops, a family desktop ( always on) scattered all the house, the kid has access to all of them when we are not around.
Now we are little more careful and keep those things out of the kid's reach ( the babysitter actually did it for us)
We don't want to take away everything from him, as he still can't play with his friends ( the virus thing) and both of us need to go out for work everyday and the kid spends more than 8 hours with the babysitter ( who's a very nice young college student, but can't replace the grandparents)
 
I allow my 5 year old to watch cartoons on TV on YouTube for up-to 2 hours everyday, She also attends her online classes on ipad which is 2 hours in total.
Other than that, I don't let her use any devices. She has plenty of indoor toys which she plays with along with her cousins.
 
There was one video going rounds on social media.. a phrase from the video says .. "They are watching..."

I don't think that is the most important lesson to any parent. "They are watching...."

Its like time has turned around, couple of decades back, parent needed to keep an eye on the kids & watch them. Now, kids are ALWAYS watching parents. So, always be aware what you CAN/CANNOT do when kids are around. They will do whatever you DO.

You READ they READ
You use PHONE they PHONE
You watch TV they watch TV, & so on..

So, my .02 cents is : if you want them to BEHAVE first you BEHAVE & they follow. No need to stress out.

We cut the cable 5 years back, we ourselves don't watch TV more than couple of hours(definitely less than an hour most days), except Sat/Sun. Sat/Sun it would be couple of movies. This is the ONLY one thing we accomplished, still so many things that need to changed.

We are still not able to CUT our phone/laptop usage. My wife reads & spends most of the time with kids. Her digital intake is through mobile & bluetooth headphones when working in the kitchen so it won't distract others/kids.

We are still learning & struggling to keep up. There are so many things still need to be learned/changed, I meant WE not the kids.
 
My 2-year-old twins would often get hooked to a mobile device screen. This was a concern when screen time increased during the lockdown. The only way to cut down was to keep ourselves away from the tech and keep them occupied with anything that does not involve staring at TV/Mobile. It has worked really well so far. Screen time has drastically reduced to 10-15 mins a day.
 
StingU said:
following. gonna be a pa in 2 weeks
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Congratulations!!
blackscorpio said:
You READ they READ
You use PHONE they PHONE
You watch TV they watch TV, & so on..

So, my .02 cents is : if you want them to BEHAVE first you BEHAVE & they follow. No need to stress out.
Click to expand...
We read pretty much every evening for 2 hours or more. Zero TV. Movies only during weekends ( rarely in weekdays, that too after the kid is asleep)
The kid doesn't even want to watch cartoons when we are around. He is way more interested in playing chess with us.
But he watches cartoons etc. for 3/4 hours when we are at work.
We have a lot of pet dogs, and the kid loves to play with them in the backyard. But our backyard is a mess after the storm and heavy rainfall in last few weeks, so he can't go out.
 
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Don’t expect overnight results. My 8 year old doesn’t spend more than 30 mins on tab for entertainment. That too not everyday. We don’t spend more than 2.5 hrs on tv in a week. At five she used to watch a lot more. Just keep informing that’s it’s bad for them. They will come around with time.
 
I think @blackscorpio has already given the best advice. And I also feel that many, if not most, people of our generation fail at this aspect. I am not a parent yet, but these are from my observations of new parents in my social circle. I guess most people can never realize the huge responsibility that having kids are, before they become parents. Most people will know of the financial implications, having a kid has on them, but no clue about the so many other responsibilities and sacrifices they have to make for kids.
 
quaratineinthesejeans said:
We read pretty much every evening for 2 hours or more. Zero TV. Movies only during weekends ( rarely in weekdays, that too after the kid is asleep)
The kid doesn't even want to watch cartoons when we are around. He is way more interested in playing chess with us.
But he watches cartoons etc. for 3/4 hours when we are at work.
We have a lot of pet dogs, and the kid loves to play with them in the backyard. But our backyard is a mess after the storm and heavy rainfall in last few weeks, so he can't go out.
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@quaratineinthesejeans sorry it wasn't directed towards you specifically, I was generally saying. I was putting it as general parenting tip.

But from what you said, you are already doing good wrt screen time you spend.

The other thing I see is lack of interest in anything, once the kids gets exposed to screen (tv/phone/tab). I see, now a days, HOBBY is alien term to the current generation. My extended family has kids from 10th standard to Bachelors, I don't know anyone who has any hobby per se.

I would suggest you to try buy DIY kits, not just electronics now a days we find so many others also, for your kid. See if he has any interest. I am sure you might already have LEGO blocks.

There is another thing I would want to try on my kids, let other people(close f&f) buy toys/reading material for my kids with our money. You get the point, no matter how much ever you try you only buy toys/books of your own interest/taste, so this way you add variety(lol due lack of my vocabulary) to kids.
 
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