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Managing Screen Time During Summer Break
Managing screen time over the summer break can be challenging. Without school work and extracurricular activities to fill their days, many kids default to spending endless hours texting, gaming, scrolling, and watching silly TikTok videos. Here are some suggestions to break the hold their devices have, or at least use them in more productive ways as the long, hot summer unfolds.
- Remember that not all screen time is equal. A great benefit of online access is that kids can use the lazy days of summer to learn new skills and explore unique interests. Is astronomy your child’s passion? How about painting, graphic design, or woodworking? Does your budding athlete want to bend it like Beckham or shoot a three-pointer like Caitlin Clark? Whatever their interests, there’s an age-appropriate tutorial one click away. Such high-quality screen time is a worthy alternative to endless social media scrolling, which is often the default for kids with too much free time to fill.
- Don’t let tech blind you. Kids are often drawn to the newest, shiniest tool in the tech toy box, but that doesn’t mean they have to have it. With hardware and software innovation and upgrades coming fast and furiously, keeping up is both expensive and never-ending. Use the incessant “can I have” opportunities to teach values such as moderation (“You already have X, you don’t need Y), patience (“We can talk about it if you still want it in a few weeks”), and work-ethic (“Let’s figure out how you can earn the money to buy it yourself”).
- Think goal first, format second. To fill idle time or stave off boredom, remember that the screen is only one option. Work with your kids to create a menu of alternative options to fill the void. Divide the menu into short, medium, and lengthy activities, and include items they can do by themselves or with friends, or siblings. Figure out what materials are required (crayons and paper, bats and balls, game boards and decks of cards, etc.) and stock up accordingly.
- Divide free time into chunks. Allow for some screen time, but balance it with equal time devoted to off-screen activities. Encourage outdoor play, face-to-face socializing with friends (gaming doesn’t count!), or just catching up as a family, reflecting on the day’s activities, and planning for tomorrow’s adventures.
- Consider listening. Audiobooks, podcasts, and recorded read-alouds are valuable tools for breaking up kids’ pixel-gazing time.
- Don’t forget handwriting and other old-school options. Rather than use digital media for emailing grandma, texting friends, keeping a journal, reading a book, encourage your kids to use pen and paper to write letters and make journal entries, and use a phone to actually speak to a friend. Plan a library outing to pick up hardcover copies of their favorite books.
- Stay on top of academic skills. Learning fractions by cooking a recipe or exploring nature and writing about it can get children off their screens while providing skill-building opportunities and preventing “summer slide.”
These are a few ideas to get you started managing your child’s summertime screen use. Put your heads together with your kids and friends to come up with other options. Let us know your ideas so we can share them with others in the Smart Kids community! All parents are in the same boat when it comes to screens!