I know it may seem simple, but this sticky note trick saved me from a post-screen time, pre-dinner meltdown that I frankly would not have handled well.
Screens are engrossing, but they also involve a lot of skills and planning, and when it’s time to stop that is not always convenient.
For kids who are neurodivergent, or for kids who like to play open ended or less “leveled” games, finding a place or way to stop can be really hard.
So, when I sensed my child was not going to stop easily, I grabbed a sticky note.
“What’s the next thing you want to do in the game?” I asked. Then I wrote it down. I showed them what I wrote to make sure it made sense, put the sticky note on the console, and told my kiddo that when they came back to play tomorrow, they could pick up where they left off with no issues.
Then we went to the dinner table, and the next day my child played and was glad to find the sticky note was there to remind them of what they were going to do.
Yes, I could have just held the boundary and dealt with the ensuing behavior, but I wanted to emphasize to my child that while stopping something engrossing or fun is hard, it’s still a skill we can work on.
Whether it’s imaginative play, working on a project, playing a video game, or studying for a midterm, all of those things are big tasks that can require breaks. By focusing on the skill, we not only save ourselves a power struggle about screens, we also give our kids skills they need that will apply in many parts of their lives.
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