We all think nostalgically of the analogue summer holidays – no phones, no screens, just children climbing trees, paddling and rock pooling, enjoying picnics and sleeping in hammocks. But today the main concern most parents have in the long summer break is how to control screen time. Here’s an Elite Nanny Company guide to managing screens in summertime.
Be the screen user you’d like your child to be
As one of our most in-demand nannies says, “Children model their parents’ behaviour – there’s no point me telling them to put their phones away at mealtimes if Mum and Dad eat one-handed with their eyes glued to a screen. The fact that it’s ‘work’ doesn’t make any difference to children, they just see it as acceptable or even desirable activity.” She has a good point; most of our other tips for limiting screen time will only work if children are being set a good example by the adults around them. A fact to help motivate you – a 2011 revealed that children who watch TV over dinner watch an average of 69 minutes more TV on weekdays and a whacking 122 minutes more at weekends.
Eat media-free
Following on from our previous tip – media-free meal times don’t just help you connect with your children, they reduce the temptation to overeat and apparently encourage children to make healthier food choices. It seems that when we are distracted by blue screens, we reach for easy to eat foods, which tend to be familiar items that can be eaten one-handed … biscuits and crisps are favourites and they are often exactly the foods we’re trying to discourage our children from eating. Foods that require two hands, or are unfamiliar, are much more likely to be eaten if children aren’t distracted by screens.
Keep chargers out of bedrooms
Teenagers in particular are prone to spending half the night on their phones or gaming. But it’s not just being on-screen that that causes problems. Having chargers in bedrooms is also sleep disturbing – the flashing of the screen can actually wake us out of our deepest sleep, because we are now so attuned to it as a signal that it reduces our sleep depth. Once again, parents set the tone and resolutely plugging your phone into a charger downstairs before you head upstairs to bed is a great way to show children that you take the restorative powers of sleep seriously.
Make a media plan
Some of the most successful screen management efforts come from agreeing a plan as a family. Everybody has reasons to want to be on-screen: checking work emails, connecting with friends, making arrangements, researching, shopping … and sitting down as a family and setting times when everybody can use screens and other times when nobody can is a great way to create healthy screen habits.
Know what else you want to do
Children get bored and when they get bored they head for the easiest form of entertainment: and that’s usually a screen. To prevent this tendency, make a list of all the other things your kids can do, and – with the help of your nanny – put together anti-boredom kits. For example if your list contains ‘play outdoors’, have several kits: one with water pistols, another with magnifying glasses and an insect identification book, another with a flower press etc. As soon as they pick from the list, hand out a kit and send them off. The novelty alone will keep them engaged for longer than you can probably think. And they’ll have more to talk about over your screen-free dinner!