With Christmas break upon us, the temptation to hand over a screen to quiet the whines of “I’m so bored” can be overwhelming.
The days are long and dark—daylight runs out quick, making screens feel inevitable. Trust me, I know—we are approaching the shortest day of the year here soon and the sun will set before 4pm. Since the second week in November, I’ve been shocked every day around 5pm to realize its not yet bedtime.
I want to challenge you to head into break with a clear mind, a renewed focus, and an easy to implement plan that will lead you to perfect Christmas bliss; okay, if not bliss, then at least a reminder that we are called to steward our time well and that parents, you lead that charge.
A few years ago, I read Sarah Mackenzie’s book The Read-Aloud Family. In it she outlines the principles behind crafting a screen time schedule. While I’d like to pat myself on the back for coming up with such a clever plan to keep screens in their proper place, I must give her credit. And really, she’s doing this while homeschooling six children (God bless her), so stand firm! You and I can do it too.
The idea is this:
Instead of kids asking all the live long day if and when they can watch a show/play a game/scroll YouTube, mom and dad (or whoever is in charge), sets up a tech use schedule ahead of time. Some sort of calendar that lays out the plan for the day, like “one TV show allowed after chores” or “30 minutes of Nintendo Switch at 2pm” or even “We will all watch a Christmas movie together every day of break from 6-8pm.” It can be whatever you want or need it to be (although I am obligated to say, of course, that over two hours of tech a day isn’t good for anyone’s health and that the type of tech does matter—see this post for more).
Without a schedule, things like this might happen in your home, which can threaten to ruin your hopes of Christmas bliss:
You are trying to make breakfast and get people fed and clothed and out the door sort of on time, but one person has decided all he can think about is when he can play Prodigy again, and this person has 1000 questions about Prodigy, and he peppers you with these questions all morning long unto you explode and declare that no one will ever play anything ever again.
Or like sometimes happens to me, you just give in, going against all your best intentions to not hand over screens before 10am.
A screen time schedule prevents relentless pestering, as well as the explosions that might follow. They help reestablish the priorities your family has established (like spend quality time together or go outside every day) and they release you from having to say no one million times a day. They help you steward well the time with your children at home, just like we are instructed to do in Deuteronomy 6. The years are indeed short, but ask any mom stuck at home with small children in miserable weather, and she will tell you that the days never end.
Your screen time schedule can be molded to fit your family, season, needs, and preferences. A Christmas break schedule might look different from a weekday or weeknight schedule. That’s what’s great: You make it work for you.
Here’s what we’re heading into break with (our kids are 4, 8, and 10):
One of us is working hard to learn the alphabet, so she is on a steady diet of Super Why (Thanks, PBS). She gets one episode each morning, around 10am. The boys usually join her because they are suckers. The boys have a few math games they use to brush up on those skills (Waggle, Khan Academy) so they will have time in the afternoon to do this (15-20 minutes). And because it’s break, we will watch a few extra movies for nostalgia’s sake.
While all of this is established up front, it is also all subject to change. People trump screens every day, every time. So if the neighbor friends are outside? The show can wait. They are gong out to play. If friends can come for last minute pizza dinner? Movie night gets bumped. There is no screen time that can’t wait.
Parents, you are in charge of the tech in your home. Every now and then, I need someone to shake me and remind me of this. Tech is persistent and prevalent, and if we are not intentional, it will eat up all the free space in our homes.
So with Christmas break upon us, the challenge is this: Establish a screen time schedule. In doing so, we are all released.
For more on this conversation check out:
0 Comments