I could use some feedback regarding how you approach screentime. We have always had a half hour limit on screentime per day (that includes tv, DS, computer games, playstation, etc., although he almost never watches tv). Our school reinforces this by having a television turn-off program and we agree to only watch a half hour on any school afternoon/night.

However, I am now faced with the challenge of how to define certain quasi-educational items. For example, my DS likes to play Timez Attack, which is definitely educational, albeit with a violent club wielding goblin to whack However it certainly isn't as educational as the pure "math facts" sort of websites.

I also introduced him to the animation program "Scratch" which he loves. I consider this educational as well.

So, how to balance? My concern is two fold. First, I do notice that his reading time decreases when he is on the computer. This isn't because he doesn't like reading, he does, but is just a function of how much time he has in the day. A related issue is that I want him to have some pure play time. I guess the computer is arguably pure play time, but it doesn't seem quite the same to me. He does do other activities as well (fencing, swimming, soccer, baseball, art, etc. depending on time of year).

I am considering letting him have a half hour of whatever he wants, and then about a half hour of "educational" type computer time - more flexible on the weekends. What would you do?

Cat

I agree the computer time's not the same as free, imaginary play time. I'd treat it as separate from the other screen entertainment time and put a time limit on it like you suggested.

I'd like to hear more about the school's television turn-off program. Seems like a great idea.

I found this study a while back that really seemed to explain what I see at home too- http://books.google.com/books?id=UaCNtle9my0C&pg=PA4&lpg=PA4&dq=Some+children+under+some+conditions:+TV+and+the+high+potential+kid&source=bl&ots=_FRUxhuuZ-&sig=h32srjUr23GUxJkir_Wlfgfc9XE&hl=en&ei=VyoES-qOLInWsQOoiZHGDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=&f=false

For us, I've basically stopped worrying about screen time. I have an only child who is wide awake and ready to take on the world at 5:30am. There's pretty much NO way I'm getting up that early. He gets up, watches TV and has breakfast on his own until about 7am. Then DH and I drink coffee and read the paper with him while he does his homework. It works well for us. After school, he usually watches another half hour of TV, plays a computer game (always educational- TimezAttack, Carmen SanDiego, Zoombinis etc) and sometimes does Aleks too. On a school day, it's not uncommon for him to have 2 hours of screen time. On the weekends, he will play Wii or DS and will likely have 3 hours a day.

We also get out and go for a family walk, have dinner together every night, read together for at least 30-45 min every night. It's about balance, not specific minutes for me.

I just try to balance it. Like CAMom my son is up and ready to go early so I let him play on the computer (he doesn't watch TV at all, plays the Wii maybe 30 minutes a week and his Leapster only occasionally in the car so computer is his only real screen time) until we're awake. I set up his profile so that he can only use the bookmarks that we have set up for him and most of them are at least partly educational. He does EPGY in the afternoons and I don't really count that as screen time since he's purely learning.

If I notice that he's been on the computer for what seems like a long time I make him stop for the night and go play outside or with his toys. I don't worry about it too much because even though it's not active play he's really learning when he's on there. I don't consider it wasted time.

Oh I guess I should mention that I'm a computer programmer and am on my computer way more than most people so I really am probably more lenient on his computer time than most.

LOL - this is how it is at our house. Both DH and I have backgrounds as software engineers and it would feel totally disingenuous to not allow our kids to explore technology.

That being said, we do monitor recreational computer or wii time. DS gets 20-30 minutes a day. Since we homeschool, he uses the computer a lot during the day. I have a kid that would definitely play Wii day and night if allowed to do so. DD5 hasn't really needed a timer yet and the vast majority of computer things she does are educational anyway. She gets off on her own generally.

Inky, they have levels of television turn-off. Gold level has no screentime during the week. They can have as much as they want (or parents' decree) from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon. Silver (what we do) is only a half-hour and bronze is one hour. The kids sign a pledge and then the parents confirm at the end of the year that the kids followed the level they agreed upon.

I like it because it supports what we already did in our house. We know some people where it didn't work (they did Gold level but the kid wanted to spend the entire weekend playing computer games).

They get a little trophy and a certificate at the end of the year.

Thanks for the details. I hadn't heard of a school doing this but I like the idea.

DS gets an hour of free time on the computer every day. He's on more than that but I don't count school time. We have cards for an extra special "15 minutes free time" that he earns on occasion for things that are unusual for him. Like if he takes extra care in showing his little brothers how to do something, things like that. It's totally random and happens rarely but when he gets one, he's on cloud nine!

With my kids, I rarely limit computer time, but I do have a bartering system. They have to do equal time of something educational to something randomly fun. That said, my kids rarely come home before 4 PM, 5 PM on days when they stay at school for a club, and dinner is at 6, showers at 8. They have to fit all their homework in that time as well...so there is a limit to what they can do during the week.