Some common questions around screen time I get are:
Do we do screen time?
How much screen time?
Is it a part of our routine?
Yes we do screen time! We live in a world that is so advance in technology that I wouldn't want to keep my daughter away from that. We did however not introduce it until the age of 3.
At around 2 years old she attended Guidepost Montessori Spanish immersion virtual school program. In order to attend virtual Montessori school she used our laptop for 90 minutes a day Monday - Friday. She loved it, I loved It we both enjoyed the program very much.
After the age of 3 I took over her education and we began formal homeschooling which is why she no longer attends Guidepost Montessori. We then began to use our iPad for learning assistance such as to research topics, find videos to add to our learning, read books, etc.
At around the same time I found out about the app Homer this app is geared towards children ages 2&^. On this app she's able to work on reading, math, social emotional skills, critical thinking and much more. When she used the app she is allowed 30 minutes we use a visual time to enforce it.
The visual timer is a game changer we use it in many aspects of our daily routine. We use it as a visual for when transitions are approaching (bath, errands etc)
The last question: is it apart of our daily routine and the answer is no. Some days/ some weeks she goes a while without requesting to use the iPad. She is allowed to ask to ask if its available for her to use. I think about it I typically always try to say yes unless its a no and she knows to respect the boundary. When I say no it comes with a reason why we can't right now because ____. She acknowledges my answer and goes about her day.
But it wasn't always like this when we first introduced screen time it was sometimes hard when the timer would go off, id acknowledge her feelings but it was a limit time was up she could finish what she was doing and after that the iPad would turn off for the day.
Another trick if you have an iPad im not sure if its available with other tablets is enabling the guided access mode. This allows them to remain on one app and does not allow the child to roam anything else on the iPad. Guided access also allows there to be a timer on it, so when its time the iPad shuts down and does not allow the child to continue to use it without the adults password.
Now at 4 years old I don't use that feature she knows to respect the timer and be honest with me (not give herself additional time). She has however done that once we talked about the importance of being honest and how she could simply ask for more time next time and its never happened again. When I give her additional time I give her either 10 or 15 minutes more and that's more then enough.
Another aspect of screen time is TV, this is something we do on a routine. Every Friday is family movie night where she picks what we watch together. Some Fridays she forgets / doesn't ask for a movie so we skip it that week.
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