Screen-Free Evenings?
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Has anyone found success being screen-free in the evenings? Like...parents, kids, teens...everybody. We're all face-first in our phones once 5PM hits (guilty too) and missing out on the ONE time of day when we're all together. Tips to get everyone on board?
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Yes! We are certainly not perfect but we have started letting our kids color/journal, read or pick out a game. When they choose a game we all play. Or I’ll play while my husband cleans up dinner or vice versa.
Pictionary, headbandz, mancala, card games etc -
Go Fish and Uno are big hits at our house. I like things they can play on their own/with siblings bc that’s typically when I’m cleaning up the kitchen.
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Yes! During the school year we do screen free evenings every school night. It’s been tough some days but setting that initial overall boundary stops the continual asking. We let the kids pick out movies/show/video game on the weekends and they know it’s something to look forward to!
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I am a Speech/Language Pathologist and a mom of college age children and I love this so much! It is wonderful seeing parents of young children tackle this problem! The overuse of technology at a young age can negatively affect communication growth, social skills, increase anxiety, and is related to inattention! Hang in there with this!
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It is hard but my goodness does it make a difference in our kids attitudes and demeanors. They are newly 5 and 3 and I noticed them having a harder time getting to sleep and staying asleep after an evening of screen time (TV not iPads. We only do iPads when we travel long distances). I noticed a snappier husband too! We went to Colorado for a week this last summer at a place that barely has any wifi (we go every year) and it’s a great place for a dopamine reset. We came home and immediately cut out ALL TV and my goodness we had different kiddos! Every kid is different though but for ours it made a really big difference not only in everyone’s moods but also in our connections at the end of a day. Some of my favorite moments have happened between 4pm and 7pm even though it can be the witching hour!
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No screens for our kiddos yet, but a trick that works for us addicted adults in the house is putting our phones on top of the fridge. We put a ringer on a sound so that if a TRULY important call comes in we will hear it (eg elderly grandparents). You could try some modified version of that … but everyone really has to want to do it because, speaking personally, the physical sensation of it being up there can be uncomfortable (which tells you a lot about my unhealthy relationship with my phone haha). And like everyone else … puzzles, games, reading, etc.
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Just tonight we enjoyed a screen free evening post dinner with a few rounds of 20 questions. We usually have 2 of the kids team up to think of a person, place or thing then the rest of us guess as a team. We have three kiddos, ages 5, 7 and 9. They LOVE playing this. Then we played 2 rounds of Rummikub. This is so fun and a great way for the kids to master numbers, patterns and creative strategy. If you want to up your game, get these pretty tiles from The Mahjong Line. They also make Rummy tiles! https://themahjongline.com/products/rummy-tile-set-deep-teal?utm_source=google&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=21710165745&utm_content=&utm_term=&gadid=&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA_qG5BhDTARIsAA0UHSLirIl1qqIPrKJ6dSuf2HM6b97hagNDqj2IOwmChE0KWaohlJYLoH8aAk7KEALw_wcB
If you want to enhance the evening experience, make mocktails with the kids! We love bubbly water, a fresh lime wedge and 100% organic tart cherry juice splash. BONUS: this mocktail stimulates natural melatonin production and will gently guide everyone into a relaxed and restful state of mind pre bed time
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This is something we have implemented since the time change. Still working on 100% consistency but we have drastically cut back on screens once the sun is down. Coloring, Guess in 10 (card game), Headbandz, log reading minutes for prizes, make bracelets.
Our kids have started calling us out on our phone use which is uncomfortable and a good wake up call -
Some favorites at our house: Legos, paint by sticker, craft kits from Target or Michael’s, perler beads, latch kit, make bracelets, paint nails, old maid
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Love this thread and the ongoing conversation about how to limit screen use. We don't do TV during the week, only on weekends. I will say that once the boundary is set, the asking diminishes over time. It really just takes 5-10 minutes of whining from them while I hold out on the rule, and then they move on to some independent play or figure it out on their own. We honestly don't do a lot of traditional "board games" or cards or anything. I really let them facilitate those moments for themselves: "Your job is to play." "It's okay to be bored. That's when the magic happens."
I've also seen people fill a bowl with slips of paper with different options on it- anything from "make a card for a neighbor" to "go jump on the trampoline for 10 minutes" to "fill a bag with outside treasures". Kids draw from the bowl and have to do it. Haven't done this personally but I feel like I've seen people suggest it time and time again so thought I'd throw it out there!
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Now that it’s staying brighter later, we’ve been eating dinner on the back porch and then staying outside until it’s bath/showers and time to get ready for bed
