Summer Electronic Rule

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Electronics rule our lives, don’t they? We love ’em and we love to hate ’em. They inform us, entertain us, aid in our business/school, yet we know that we need to step away from them to be a part of the real world, too. I shared on social media the other day about the summer electronic rule in our home, and thought I needed to share it here, too! So, let’s talk!  I love sharing these parenting discussions posts, and hearing from all of you. If you missed the last, it was about teens and social media rules.

Rules-for-Summer-Electronic-Time-with-teens-and-kids

At our home, we LOVE our electronics. We haven’t ever even had cable, but who needs it now with Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime? I’ve never wanted to pay $70+ for cable, but I can easily pay $8-10 for Netflix and Hulu. Yes, yes I can. I love TV and electronics as much as the next guy, and I get it. So many ways to entertain when it comes to not just TV, but YouTube, social media, and my boys favorite–video games.

I know video games and TV and electronics are a fact of life, and I remember growing up that my mom was the softy when it came to the electronics, and my dad was the one that came home, and made us turn the TV off. I can say that it’s similar here, but I don’t want my husband to have to be the bad guy all the time, so I try to control it with certain parameters.

This is what we’ve done:

Electronic time is at 3pm during the summer. Not before then.

It lasts for 2 hours. Reasonable in the summer time, I think. They have their list of things that need to be done before, too (jobs, piano, read, scriptures, eat veggies, etc.)

How-to-monitor-kids-on-electronic-devices-in-summer

I’ve had this rule for a long, long time now, and my kids are used to it, and get it. Because we have a set time, it helps us ALL to know it’s coming, and we don’t need to crave it, sneak it, or beg for it at other times. It generally lasts from 3-5pm on summer days, which totally works well for us, because if we do “adventures” we always do them between 10-2ish.  We are in Texas where temps are often 100 degrees in the heat of the day, which is standardly 3-5, so we are inside in the AC, enjoying our down time, after a day of playing by that point.

This rule has worked really well for our family, and when it comes up in conversation (like it did on this Facebook LIVE discussion about summer boredom busters) people seem to think it’s a pretty great idea. I don’t know how I came up with it, it just worked. I like it, too, because it’s a set time that I know I can sit at my computer, the kids are occupied with their electronic of choice, and we can all do what we want.

My husband is usually home a bit after 5, so we turn it all off then, work on getting dinner on the table together, and we have evening family time.

how to monitor screen time with kids

But guess what? I have a confession…

Advil Mom Confessions

YouTube video

 

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Being a mom can be tough! Sometimes it requires you to cave in on some of your most adamant rules. I would be a hypocrite if I forced my kids to put away their electronics, while I continued on my own, and sometimes I just need that extra time. That electronic time is my guilty pleasure and my escape from the craziest of days.  If it makes all of us happier to take the extra time on our devices, than sometimes, it’s worth it!

Tell me about your electronic rules, especially in the summer, I’d love to hear!

This post is sponsored by Pfizer and that product samples were provided by Pfizer in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own.

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