Screen time for all

“Mother!”

When the sentences stop and that’s the only word being uttered, you know already what will follow. Either a tantrum or a reasoning match where your 7 year old proceeds to tell you why he would need xy or z.

The scene described above, I’m very fortunate to say it doesn’t happen too often. So far I have been able to keep them busy with their trains, cars, occasional games (monopoly or “mens erger je niet”) or worse, gasp! Bored! And when they are bored, I get the question I don’t like much: “MOTHER! Why can’t I play the phone?” or, “But all other kids …”

So, where did my aversion and love-hate relationship with the phone, TV, tablet and the likes originate? I have absolutely NO idea! What I do know is that deep down I do think that kids should bore themselves to death, because if they do, their brains somehow gets triggered into getting themselves out of that bored situation.

Now, mind you, I am addicted to my phone too. Specifically to a game called Solitaire Tripeaks. So I understand that for the kids, it’s even worse once they’ve been exposed to a certain feel-good-instantaneously game, they want to play it again! Who would not?

There seems to not been scientific research to back up the yay-vs-nay debate on screen time for kids. But I want to challenge us all to look at not just for the kids, but screen time for all – kids and adults alike. And be critical about it: do you feel happy when you’re endlessly scrolling Facebook? I look at myself and how it affected my mood and no longer have FB installed on my phone. It is just mindless and endless scrolling into nothingness so no. I’d rather play with my kids (and be bored haha) instead.

What’s your belief system? Let us know in the comments below!