Managing your kids’ screen time is a constant battle for 21st-century parents, especially now more than ever as parents are dealing with school closures, social distancing and the stress that comes along with that. One way to help ensure that your kids have a healthy relationship with their devices is to come up with a media agreement together and discuss the risks and dangers of unsafe internet use.
Family Collaboration
In order to create a collaborative plan with your kids, you’ll want to prompt them to open up about how they feel about screen time. This should include their likes, dislikes, and what healthy screen time looks like to them. Some questions to help them open up could be:
- Why do you like your [device]? What are some positives and negatives that you could name about it?
- Do you ever feel pressured online to do something you aren’t comfortable with? Have you ever witnessed cyberbullying or been cyberbullied?
- Do you feel comfortable talking to us about unhealthy media use or online abuse that you see?
- How does online school make you feel? How does in-person school make you feel?
- What are some things you wish were different about online school or socializing?
- What is your favorite online activity? Why?
- What is your favorite screen-free activity? Why?
Counseling Together Brings Results
Getting your kids talking will give you valuable insight into what they get out of their screen time and may help you discover gaps in their knowledge of how to use it safely. In addition to agreeing upon how much time they spend on their devices, the conversation and agreement should also cover healthy use too. Have a separate conversation with your partner and agree on things you can both do to help promote healthier screen time — your kids learn a lot from just watching you and your habits. Once your family feels comfortable with your plan you can write it out with your family in a printable screen time agreement (the printables below are provided courtesy of Panda Security):
What are some of your family’s biggest media challenges or favorite group activities? A planned movie night and pajama party with games are both great ways to spend quality family time while also making sure content is kid-friendly!
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