We’re a media family. We watch a lot of TV. We’re always on our phones. Lucky has a tablet (for shame). N has a giant gaming computer and I have my rinky-dink laptop. Something, if not everything, is always on.
Yes, we eat dinner in front of the TV as well and depending on who you speak to this either means Lucky’s intellectual growth will be stunted and our marriage will end orrr it’s just another way to live and all will be well in the end.
While I try to not let the guilt get to me and I do try to limit Lucky’s day time TV on weekends, one thing both N and I struggle with is the damn phone.
I know there are apps to help curb your use but I don’t have enough self control for that. I could also impose rules on myself, but again, self control. Thankfully, I have something better. A chatty demanding 2 year old.
When Lucky and I get home from work or when he wakes up he asks to put the tv on and I always tell him no he has to play a bit first. After a bit of whining he’ll move on to one of his toys and I’ll have a bit of time to get my phone fix on before I have to mom it up. But as soon as he sees I have it in my hand he yells “Put the phone down!!!”
It’s usually while I’m in the middle of a text or searching for something so he keeps yelling it and getting frustrated with me until I drop it and pay attention to him. His jam now is play fighting with his dolls and sometimes it’s more fun to have someone else play the bad guy.
I won’t lie. It’s annoying at first. The pitch of the scream and the whine while I’m trying to concentrate on whatever mundane crap I just have to do at that moment is a lot to take. But as soon as my attention is on protecting Iron Man from the repeated smashing from… another Iron Man it’s easier to forget about my phone. And let’s face it. It’s way more fun watching him enjoy beating me up or pretending to get hurt.
Sometimes I’ll get a text and quickly grab my phone and he’ll shout “Put the phone down!!”. Sometimes he’ll wrap my knuckles with a hard plastic ninja. It’s not the reminder I want, but I guess it’s the reminder I need.
All this being said, being bullied by a toddler really helps our weekend daytime usage. I don’t feel as addicted to it as I used to. But sometimes I have to physically leave my phone upstairs. And other times I just give in to the scrolling, all the while aware that I’m losing brain cells by the second while I hide from Lucky.
But as soon as night time and especially night time weekends roll around, all bets are off. Right now we’re trying a new show on Netflix. At the same time N playing a game on his phone and I’m typing on my laptop and Lucky is dozing off in front of his iPad. We’re a child development scientist’s nightmare right now.
But it’s all about balance right?
Tales of a 30 Year Old Nothing 
Our tv is on all the time. Like, from the time we get up until after I fall asleep in bed and Brian turns it off. My family growing up always had the tv on as well. Ate dinner in front of the tv, everything. We eat dinner in our dining room, and have a rule no phones at the table. B and I are horrible phone addicts as well. I’ve been trying to be better about it, but it’s hard. I honestly think everyone will turn out ok. 🤷♀️
We try and limit it to a little in the afternoon as he no longer naps so have it as quiet time instead. We try and go without it as much as possible. I use an app called ABC Kids Listen or Kinderling Radio for background noise if I need it. They will all turn out just fine regardless of how much screen time they have 🤷♀️
Seriously, thank you for being honest about this because I feel like most moms are not! We definitely do more media than I’d like. We do have a rule not to have tv during dinner and we started implementing a no-screen rule for Ross starting at 7pm because I felt like bedtime was such a HUGE struggle. But he is so busy and needs such constant and varied stimulation that I cannot get him to stay still long enough to eat unless we are watching a show. So, he does breakfast and often lunch with tv. He would literally rather be up and about and go without eating, and he seems to be able to go a very long time without eating much at all if he wants too!
Also, we are super into the beating-things-up and bad guy phase. I’m glad my child isn’t the only violent one! If any of his toys last beyond his childhood, I’ll be shocked. Meanwhile, I swear I’ve never broken one of my toys in my life.
Oh I’m so glad your little one is into fighting bad guys. I really thought we dropped the ball somewhere 😂😂. I think we’re doing just fine with the tv time my friend. ❤️❤️
We struggle with this too! Hubby and I are both addicted to our phones. We used to occasionally as a baby let Mini watch kids tv youtube videos (to get her to stay still for a nappy change for instance) then as she’s gotten older she’s able to ask to watch her shows it’s been move often.. Like sometimes when I needed to get ready quickly in the mornings or cook the easiest thing is to let her watch something to keep her occupied but I know it’s a bad habit. We try to limit screentime for her to not more than a half hour (or an hour!) a day. She always sees us on our phones though which isn’t a great example we’re setting. I remember as a kid watching a lot of cartoons and I turned out ok so it can’t be all bad, right?
Yes, same here. definitely not all bad 🙂
Oh you just made me feel so much better about the screen time the girls get. Especially with this quarantine and no longer having our daycare friends here. Luckily, the weather has been getting nicer so we balance it with quite a bit of outside time. I’m so guilty of being on my phone too much to.