Summer Screen Prep

How to set you and your people up for success

Top 4 Tips

• Plan in advance

• Be broad and specific

• Communicate openly and notoriously

• Adjust device settings accordingly

Photo by Maarten van den Heuvel on Unsplash

Plan in Advance

Think through and design a system that takes into consideration all the factors that can affect success such as: 

• the age of your kids

• their relationship with screens

• the time/capacity of the adult(s) to support the system

• external factors i.e. what else is going on that day, who else is around, the weather, are your traveling, etc.

Be Broad 

Get out of a score keeping mentality (e.g. 45 minutes of reading gets you 45 minutes of screen time) and think about this as a way to work on responsibility and independence. The big idea here is that we all have responsibilities and the right to free time.

The grown ups set the responsibilities but the kids have some choice in how they spend their free time.  This approach values free time but doesn’t put screen time up on a pedestal. Will your kid always choose screens? Maybe. But this slight shift in focus doesn’t make screens the sole prize and reading the enemy.

Here is an example of the plan we use in our house: Are you happy, healthy, kind and responsible?

• Happy = well adjusted, not cranky

• Healthy = getting enough sleep, exercising, eating nutritious foods but also reading and finding ways to be creative.

• Kind = are you being nice to your sibling and are you being helpful to others? 

• Responsible = are you doing your chores?

It's a long list and it takes a good part of a day to fulfill. But, if my kids can demonstrate progress in all these areas, then they can choose how to use their free time.

Mostly they choose screens but sometimes they choose more trampoline time or listening to an audiobook. Some days we won’t get to the list because we’re doing something else— like a family adventure or other circumstance. Some days we’ll be traveling or it will be pouring rain so we’ll grant an exception.

Be Specific

A broad plan will need specifics but those depend on the age of your kid along with many other factors. 

For younger kids it might be a written list of tasks and a set amount of free time per day with the options listed– free play, watching a certain show, audiobook or another activity your kid likes to do.

For tweens increase the list of responsibilities, set targets for categories like exercise and creative time but allow them choice within those categories. I would also add in a few guardrails like no screens before a certain time of day or after a certain time of day to help build good time management habits. 

For teens you will adjust yet again. If they are generally healthy and have a healthy relationship with screens and are getting everything done that they are supposed to then I would leave them be. That said, I would keep them busy. Summer camps and/or jobs help fill up days. And, hold them accountable for digital etiquette including no phones at the dinner table, no phones overnight in bedrooms and putting down a device when speaking with another human IRL. 

Open and Notorious

Talk about your plan.  A lot. Be transparent about the rules, about the goals and about the why. Make sure everyone involved understands the plan. For some kids that might mean printing out a physica list. For others it might mean asking questions or shaping the plan with you.

Settings

Go into the parental controls areas of any devices your kids will be using. Adjust screen time limits to fit your plan– you might be relaxing them. If you have devices with school mode, turn them off or change the hours.

Watchouts

• Plans where progress can be negotiated are really draining. (e.g. 45 mins of reading for 45 mins of screens). This will result in constant debate. It also frames reading as a chore.

• Shut down the notion of “rollover credits” upfront. Your plan is about responsibilities and free time, so a day when you went to an amusement park was a day of free time. Or, a day at an amusement park meant there was no time to do responsibilities therefore we didn’t get the free time part.

• For highly resistant teenagers, have them read The Anxious Generation or any other research from an accredited expert that has resonated with you. Invite the conversation.

Other Practical Tips

• For Younger Kids: Audio – including audiobooks, podcasts & music. Apps like Libby, Audible, Spotify for Kids and Starglow are great sources for high quality audio content.

• For Elementary & Tweens: Turn off school mode on the smartwatches (but also decide if you even need the watch during the summer)

• For Tweens & Teens: Consider screen free camps or sleepaway camps

• For Parents: Be conscious of your own screen time (if you read on your phone make sure you are telling your kids that so it doesn’t look like something else)

• For the Family: Consider scheduling a screen free weekend or vacation 

My $0.02

• Don’t underestimate external factors. You may come up with an amazing plan to detox your kids from screens but if your caregiver can’t execute it then it may not be the right plan/system for right now.

• Reserve the right to change your mind! If the system breaks down, or is not working the way you want it to, then fix it or find a new system.  Try not to blame the humans involved. The system was designed for the outcome it produced.

• Its ok if things slide over the summer. Really. We are all doing the best we can. You’ve got this!

BONUS: How to do ‘Bored Camp’

In my house, we affectionately call our summer screen plan “Bored Camp.” We first implemented this last summer because we were staring down two weeks where my husband and I had to work and there was no camp or activities to send them to.  It was a rough first day but they did adjust. Towards the end they planned a bike adventure for themselves and even offered to do errands for us. Mind Blown.