Help me wean my preschooler off screen time

amother

Tue, Sep 08 2020, 9:43 pm

Mommies I need help!
I'm an experienced mother - this is not my first child, but I'm at a loss. Due to corona and other factors (difficult baby, working from home) my preschooler has become addicted to YouTube kiddie videos. The content itself is not bad, but the amount of time spent watching each day is awful. Now she is finally back in school. But the winter is approaching. No more outdoor play. I feel like if I don't make real efforts to eliminate screen time, its just gonna get worse. She is really addicted and I'm not ok with that.

But my life is really overwhelming so I need concrete advice and support how to go about this.

I would gladly go along with her suffering a week or two of withdrawal if I knew it was a cure.

amother

Blonde

Tue, Sep 08 2020, 9:46 pm

Cold turkey.

In our family we only allow screen time on Sunday morning (which works for me as I can fold laundry, unload dishwasher and look at the newspaper) that’s the rule.

Either come up with something similar (example; Friday afternoon while you’re finishing shabbos prep! Or none at all

amother

Firebrick

Tue, Sep 08 2020, 9:51 pm

I use my oven timer for my preschooler. Once it starts beeping I remember he has to turn it off and he also knows that by now. We have been doing this for a long time. Otherwise I totally lose track of his screen time.

amother

Green

Tue, Sep 08 2020, 9:51 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

cold turkey. Once she gets the "crave" out of her system, let's say after 2 weeks, then u can implement a certain time when she can watch. I see for myself that I need to stay away from the computer for a few days at a time in order to break my "addiction" (I don't have internet on my phone)

ice coffee

Tue, Sep 08 2020, 9:58 pm

I just cut them off cold turkey as well. Im back to Sunday’s only. I’ve done this a few times when it gets really bad and after a week or so , they remember how to use their imaginations again. It’s helpful that I have 2 close in age so they go through it with eachother but I can’t imagine it would take more than 2weeks

meeze

Tue, Sep 08 2020, 10:30 pm

I had the same problem with my toddler. I was not seeing a way out with limiting the time so from one minute to the next, I just stopped giving the phone to him to watch videos.

He striked and didnt want to eat anything and also throwed tantrums, then crying a lot.
He later saw that I'm not busy with the phone either and that he can be occupied with other things...so that's basically how I did it.

Also, pointing out here, that he used to be a little wild, grinding his teeth and opening his eyes wide open and throwing toys...the screen made him a diff person but he calmed down all the way b"h. This youtube was a bad habbit and addiction.

Thank god I took the strength to make him break this unhealthy habbit

amother

Teal

Tue, Sep 08 2020, 10:49 pm

Got him a new CD to listen to, and turned the wifi off.
He can only watch what I downloaded which becomes boring to repeat after some time.
Don’t use my phone when he is around, and play board games and do homework.
(Go fish, guess who/ tic tac to/ slamwich etc.)
The new CD helped a lot.

amother

Peach

Tue, Sep 08 2020, 11:08 pm

The only way was cold turkey, zero screen time.
When I tried limits, my ds would be uncontrollable, and cry, kick, scream for hours.
Wasn’t easy, but I’m so happy we did that.

We do screen time in the car when we travel.

amother

Aubergine

Wed, Sep 09 2020, 12:44 am

amother [ Peach ] wrote:

We were the same. I prepared him in advance, telling him once school starts we can't watch anymore. The first couple days were bad. Then he started asking for it sometimes but could be redirected. Now, just 1 1/2 weeks in, he's not asking at all and he is playing with his toys more than ever. He does ask me to play games with him, which is not my favorite activity, but I do try to say yes a couple times a day.
I bought him a large sterilite container and put in 6 lb of kinetic sand, with small tractors, figurines and sand molds. When I see he starts to get agigated, when he would usually watch, I suggest he plays with his sand. It's very calming for him and he loves to play with it.

amother

Brown

Wed, Sep 09 2020, 3:40 am

Def cold turkey for a few weeks.
Tell him it stopped working if you need to.
For first few days you will need to remind him how to play (maybe buy new stickers or play dough or paint or whatever)

Then re introduce very concrete limited time. My pre school watches from when he comes home (4.15ish) till dinner (about 5) and that's it. This way I have the babysitting when I come in from work with him and need to breathe but after dinner I can give him time and he can play etc before bath and bed.

ChanieMommy

Wed, Sep 09 2020, 3:43 am

Maybe a positive approach, proposing lots of exciting activities without screens is the way to go.

Also, your preschooler is starting learning to read, so open the world of books to her: read stories with her, look at picture books.

I suppose a major investment spending time with her is required...

banana123

Wed, Sep 09 2020, 6:17 am

Do you need the device for someone else? If not, hide it. Say it doesn't work. If the device is your smartphone then remove the app and say the app disappeared, and it doesn't work anymore for that game.

You will have some temper tantrums. And that will be the end of it.

amother

Crimson

Wed, Sep 09 2020, 6:29 am

Someone forwarded me an article on stoping screentime realistically. It helped me with my 3 and 6 year old: https://handsonotrehab.com/scr.....ines/

I’ve been following them on Instagram And they show exercises to do to help the children be more relaxed while stopping screentime. G’luck! 💗

FranticFrummie

Wed, Sep 09 2020, 1:03 pm

When DD was 2, I saw that she was constantly trying to get the TV to turn on on Shabbos (she didn't understand that we unplugged it!)

Her dad and I decided that it was cold turkey time, and put the TV in the basement. She cried for about a week, but she did get over it. I read to her a LOT, cooked with her, sang to her, and eventually she forgot all about it. If your child is over 2 it will be harder, but it's worth it.

Just be prepared that it won't be easy to watch. It's literally like watching someone go through drug withdrawal. Only then will you realize just how deep the addiction has gone, based on how badly your child takes it.