How to avoid discussion about screen time with teens
How to avoid discussion about screen time with teens
Teenagers today all have cell phones, they do their schoolwork on laptops and at home they watch Youtube or Netflix. They watch a lot of screen time. This can be quite a discussion at home, I know from personal experience.
But how to avoid this discussion about screen time with teenagers?
Internet use
Of course, it’s super easy to have an all-in-one package at home, giving you great internet, TV and landline calls. But do make arrangements with each other and with the kids. Because although it benefits everyone at home, it can also cause quite a bit of turmoil and discussion about screen time.
Discussing screen time with teenagers
At every age you have discussions about screen time, this starts with young children and then the discussion may not always be with the children, but you and your partner can have quite different opinions about using a tablet or TV. With teenagers, it is very common to use a laptop during the last years of elementary school and all the way through high school. But it is also used at home for homework or online classes.
With this in mind and you and your partner working from home an all in one package is of course very handy. But there can also be that discussion.
Relax with a game
After all, the Internet ensures that in addition to your meetings, the children-and in our house the teenagers-can also use the Internet a lot. In addition to their schoolwork, teens all have cell phones. With this they not only maintain contact with classmates, they find their homework, grades and watch movies via youtube here.To relax they like to play a game on the Nintendo Switch and ’in the evening they like to watch a series on Netflix.
So all in all, a lot of screen time.
What can you run into
What can you as parents encounter if your teenagers watch a lot of screen time at home?? Of course, this can be a lot of different things. You may feel that your child does not get outside enough.
You can have a discussion with your children every night about when to turn off the Nintendo. But your child may also be sleeping poorly because he or she is on the phone late into the night.
Empathize with children’s play
Here at home, the discussion is mainly when we go out to dinner and the boys are doing a game on the Nintendo Switch. I’ve become wiser over time and know not to ambush them with the words;’Off that thing, we’re going to eat.’ They are in the middle of a game, they are so busy with it that switching to off doesn’t come through immediately. You have that yourself, reading a suspenseful book, you also can’t suddenly stop because someone says so. Having learned this, these days I tell them 10 minutes before we go to the table that they have 10 minutes left, so shut down their game.
With us this saves a lot of discussion and frustration on all sides.
Empathize with your child
But you can also imagine when your teenager is playing games with other youngsters, you can say and now off that thing, he or she might just be in the middle of a game with others from all over the world. You cannot suddenly turn off the game. This should be communicated briefly to the peers and may need a quick finishing touch. Parents quickly forget this and get irritated. So making clear arrangements is very important.
Because that way we can all continue to enjoy an all-in-one package, but in moderation!
Making agreements with your teens
Here are all the arrangements you can make:
- Have them turn off their cell phone half an hour before bedtime
- Communicate with each other, let the teen know what you are doing and empathize as a parent as well.
- Are you going to eat, say this 10 minutes in advance. Then there is no need for discussion at the time.
- Agree when your son or daughter can have screen time. Do agree on this together!
- Also agree together on the time your child can have screen time.
- Use this screen time together, for example play a board game on the Nintendo or watch a fun series on TV together.
Keep it cozy in the house
Cell phones, Netflix, laptops are here to stay. Not for the teenager, but certainly not for us either. The thing is, it’s in our lives and that’s why it’s good to make clear arrangements. Not only with the children, also with each other.
Make arrangements to avoid discussions about screen time!
Now if you have any more tips or experiences, feel free to leave them in a comment!
