Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Tuesday 20 November 2018
Limiting screen time for your kid? It's harder than it looks

By MARTHA IRVINE nite." She's witnessed the
Associated Press "bad attitude" when he's
CHICAGO (AP) — For many asked to get off the game
parents, limiting screen and take out the garbage
time for their children or find something to do that
seems like an exercise in doesn't involve a screen.
futility. They are busy, over- But she also sees the posi-
whelmed and tired of the tives — connections he's
fight against increasingly made with new friends at
omnipresent screens. Barb school, for instance. For her,
and Allen Hailey know the the question is: "How do we
drill well, including the tus- help him self-regulate?"
sles to get their 10-year-old A few parents simply put off
son, Henry, to stop playing getting their kid a phone.
the popular online game Some are trying "Wait Until
"Fortnite" — often his early 8th ," a pledge kids sign to
Saturday morning routine. put off getting a phone un-
"The whole process to get til eighth grade. There's also
him off (screens) is very try- the National Day of Un-
ing and confrontational, plugging each spring that
and then once he's off, can help parents and kids
there's a lot of complaining create a culture in which
and grumpiness for a while setting limits is more ac-
as we try to coax him to do cepted.
something else," his mom It's not an easy balance for
says. "He's upset. Mom is a most families to strike, even
crank. What is it all for?" for parents. And the Hailey
The goal, experts say, boys are quick to call out
should be to help kids their parents on this point.
learn to manage their own In this Sept. 25, 2018, photo from left, Barb Hailey eats dinner with her husband Allen and sons "You can go down the rab-
time as they get older and Everett, 15, and Henry, 10, in Chicago. bit hole so easily," Barb Hai-
to stay physically active Associated Press ley says. "Then you get it
and socially connected thrown back in your face."
as much offline as on. But social media several times Google Play, found on An- says. Henry doesn't have a All the Haileys are trying.
parents in many American a day, up from 34 percent droid phones, and various phone — yet. "We may not like it," Ever-
households are finding the in 2012. More than half say independent apps also al- But phones and other ett says, as his little brother
power struggles — tan- that their devices distract low parents to monitor and screens are not allowed nods. "But we know it's for
trums, withdrawal and, in them from homework or set some restrictions. during meals — a limit both the best."
some cases, even school the people they're with. Experts say time limits can boys seem to appreciate. The boys do regularly hang
and discipline problems — Some tech companies now help but are sometimes Managing all this is no easy out with friends in person,
difficult, especially as more at least acknowledge con- a moot point given how task, even for experts such and both play soccer. Ev-
kids get access to screens cerns about over-use and deeply technology is "em- as Sierra Filucci, executive erett plays the saxophone.
at younger and younger outright abuse of digital bedded in our daily life," editor of parenting content Henry plays trumpet and
ages. media. Apple instituted a says Sarah Domoff, a psy- at Common Sense Media, recently took up the drums.
A survey of 13- to 17-year- "Screen Time" function in chologist at Central Michi- an organization that helps Mom laughs: "So when we
olds released this fall by the its latest iPhone software. gan University. families navigate the digi- say, 'Get off the screen'
nonprofit Common Sense It monitors app use and Instead she asks parents: tal world. and he goes and plays the
Media found that 95 per- allows users — or their par- How are your children do- Her own 12-year-old son, snare drum, we have to live
cent of U.S. teens have their ents — to establish limits. ing in school? Are they ac- like Henry, is a fan of "Fort- with that decision."q
own mobile device. Seven- Google For Families and tive and physically healthy?
ty percent of them check Are they connecting with
others in positive ways?
She does have a few ba-
sic rules, including limiting
screen time for younger
kids to the educational
stuff. She also suggests
making bedrooms "screen-
free zones" even for teens.
(Other experts, at the very
least, advise keeping de-
vices out of rooms over-
night to avoid late-night
shenanigans or other sleep
interruptions.)
The Haileys sheepishly note
that Everett routinely mul- In this photo provided by Nintendo of America, third-grade
titasks in his room with one students at the Lake Hiawatha Elementary School in Lake
In this Saturday, Oct. 6, 2018, photo, Henry Hailey, 10, plays the
online game Fortnite in the early morning hours in the base- eye on a Chromebook Hiawatha, New Jersey, participate in an interactive learning
ment of his Chicago home. laptop and often the other session with the Nintendo Labo: Variety Kit for the Nintendo
Associated Press on his phone. "I think we're Switch system.
kind of wimps," Barb Hailey Associated Press