Parents-Partners in teaching & learning.: New 'screen time' rules...what are your family's screen time rules?

I discovered this post on the Parenting for a Digital Future website:

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has just revised its stance on screen time. Sonia Livingstone takes a closer look at the new recommendations and their evidence base in the post:

New ‘screen time’ rules from the American Academy of Pediatrics

The new recommendations made, 21.10.16, include:

A personalised Family Media Plan, including rules for children and their parents, and designated ‘media free’ times – the AAP provides an interactive online tool to help create this.

Rather than policing or controlling or monitoring their children’s media use, parents should think of themselves as their child’s ‘media mentor’.

Infants and toddlers should be ‘unplugged,’ though even infants are now allowed to Skype granny, and from 18 months old, high quality television content is also OK as long as a parent watches with them.

For 2-5 year olds, screen time should be less than one hour per day, again with parents watching alongside to interpret and discuss what they’re watching.

Children from 6+ need that media use plan, with limits to ensure screen time doesn’t displace sleeping, playing, conversation and physical activities.

For further information visit the above post:

New ‘screen time’ rules from the American Academy of Pediatrics

For me the following sums up how we should be looking at the problem in its entirety:

"Behind a lot of the AAP’s evidence and recommendations is not so much

the idea that screens are bad for children but

that social, cognitive and physical activity is good for children."

By creating a Personalized Family Media Use Plan, you can be aware of when you are using media to achieve your purpose. This requires parents & users to think about what they want those purposes to be. The tool below will help you to think about media & create goals & rules that are in line with your family’s values

It is important to set up your family's screen time rules early in the child/children's life. The poster from 'Get kids to stop arguing', below may give you some management tips.