{"id":6576,"date":"2015-01-21T09:00:04","date_gmt":"2015-01-21T15:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/happyyouhappyfamily.com\/?p=6576"},"modified":"2022-12-18T07:11:51","modified_gmt":"2022-12-18T13:11:51","slug":"limit-screen-time-kids-and-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/happyyouhappyfamily.com\/limit-screen-time-kids-and-technology\/","title":{"rendered":"A Simple Trick to Limit Screen Time – And Get a Happier Kid, Too"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Inside: As parents, we know we should limit screen time for our kids, but how? Here’s a simple trick that works. Bonus: You’ll end up with a happier kid, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Confession: I use the iPad as a babysitter. When I’m trying to get my toddler down for a nap, or I need to pay the bills, or we’re on a road trip—I give my 6-year-old the iPad for a while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We haven’t been officially limiting screen time because we felt like her media diet was at a healthy level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then last year, we noticed a disturbing phenomenon when she’s done with screen time, whether she plays with apps for 5 minutes or 45 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She turns into a zombie. A cranky zombie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She whines<\/a>. She pouts<\/a>. Sometimes she throws full-on temper tantrums<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that’s not even the worst<\/strong> part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On road trips, one of my daughter’s favorite ways to pass the time is for us to give her math word problems to solve. Like this: “Suppose you had 10 pieces of cake for your birthday party, but before the party starts your stressed-out mom eats 3 pieces. How many pieces of cake are left?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The kid eats that stuff up. She loves it so much that I put together a road trip experiment<\/a> for her, complete with math problems and charts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then on a road trip last year, we noticed that after she had some screen time, she was completely incapable of solving even the simplest<\/strong> math problem we gave her. It’s like her brain stopped working.<\/p>\n\n\n