So many parents I know feel like they’re drowning in screens right now, myself included. Maybe it feels like a never-ending battle, or perhaps you’ve completely relented in the face of this extraordinary time. I’m here to say that either way, no matter what’s going on, we will get through this.
How does a conscious parent navigate this sea of media and screen usage with small kids? My solution is to have an incredibly compassionate view, and still remember to pursue presence with your child.
At the onset of COVID-19, our kids (ages 5&3) went from having 30-60 minutes of screen-time a week to that per day. And now it’s more like 90 minutes a day on average, although we’ve been able to cut it down over the last few weeks. My philosophy on screens is that my kids are still incredibly young, and have their entire lives to immerse themselves in screens. During these early years, it’s my hope to instill in them a lack of dependence on screens and a greater dependence on the outdoors, and real life connection. This is rooted in many things, but a big part of it has to do with screens’ natural stress-induction, and nature’s natural stress-relief. In an incredibly over-stressful world, I want my kids to have a deep-ingrained antidote to the harming effects of stress. The best antidote out there, I believe, is connection to nature, which includes the outdoors and their own bodies.
While I strive and maintain pretty strict boundaries around screen-time in our home, the most important thing right now is that we let go of our screen-time shame. Shame for anything on behalf of anyone, parents or children should be forsaken. Glennon Doyle shared about this early on in the pandemic - during such a volatile time as this, we need to simply survive, get done some work, and end up smiling at the end of the day. If MANY hours of screen time for your family is what achieves this, let it be. No shame for it. It won’t be like this forever.
And if you’ve got the resources and ability to keep your screen time minimal, keep at it. Appleseed has a list of Approved screen programs coming your way that keeps our children grounded, supports our family values, and serves to teach them the things that matter! We can’t wait to share these with you.
I leave you with two indelible quotes:
“The world is obsessed with its children. Meanwhile the children want presence. They yearn for face-to-face presence.” - David Fitch.
A little screen time and a little presence, on repeat may be a great way to get through your days.
"Take a deep breath and affirm your intention to be fully present — here and now — at peace with What Is." - Scott Noelle.
Doing what you need to do to take care of yourself and remain present in your home will be the greatest gift you can give your kids - screen time included or not.
Peace and go easy on yourself,
Megan