The Beginning of the School Year
What a cruel end to a lazy, warm summer! Kids’ feet cramped by shoes; t-shirts and togs replaced with stiff uniforms, and parents girding themselves to become disciplinarians again. Where we had been camping and playing in the surf with our young ones, the beginning of the school year heralds the parent as morning alarm clock, school bag and homework reminder, and bedtime enforcer.
Parents frequently complain to me that their children don’t go to bed on time because they are on their devices. They say it as if the device has supreme power against which they could never compete. The UK charity Action for Children www.actionforchildren.org.ukĀ finds that one in four parents struggles to control their children’s screen use. Add to that the ensuing fights between parents that result from overuse of devices.
Here’s how you take back power over devices:
1. Believe that you have ultimate authority in your home (you do, you’re the adult and parent!)
2. Exercise your good sense that your child most often can’t stop her or himself from using a device, so you have to intervene. It’s good for them. Just like it’s good to know when to stop eating ice cream.
3. Keep devices in the lounge or kitchen, not in the children’s rooms, so their use is always monitored (and controlled).
4. Pay attention to your children, interact with them, play with them, love them, read with or alongside them, and they will want to be with you more than their devices.
Who’s in Control of Kids’ Devices?