I’m probably the only person to give this advice, but before you start cutting back on screen time for getting back to school, you may want to wait.
In fact, you may want to let your kids have EXTRA screen time (or a “summer” amount) for a week or two.
Why?! Isn’t this the time to get back to “normal”?
Short answer: yes. Longer answer: adults often underestimate how taxing the back to school transition can be for kids.
There is a lot of demand in a school day, but there is also a huge loss of autonomy for kids, and they may- reasonably- need ways of adjusting to that normal routine.
Just as we have to set ourselves up for success by laying things out the night before, setting our alarm a few minutes earlier, or meal prepping, we may also do things like saying yes to takeout, or vegging on the couch with a movie as we get used to routine.
Kids are the same. And if we try to flip a switch and instantly go back to “normal” in all areas of their lives at once, it may be too much.
We may let them know that we will go back to their typically screen time routine, but we can also be flexible. In fact, for tweens and older kids it can be a great way of helping them get in touch with what they need during this period. They may THINK they need extra screen time, and we can say yes, then provide other regulating or calming things like playing a board game or reading together.
And then we can check in: how did those activities feel? Which was more or less helpful? What did they notice?
The point of this isn’t to bombard them, but to help build their own introspection about what works for them in a given situation. That’s a lifelong skill, both on a screen, and off.
