My eldest is 5, and for the most part (tonight aside) she’s pretty good at going to sleep. All of her cousins who are younger have a small TV in their room, or are allowed a tablet whilst going to bed.
I personally think she’s too young. I was 10-11 when I first got a TV in my room, and that was restricted to 4 channels that really didn’t have much to engage an 11 year old at 8pm.
So yeah. Thoughts?
Giving a 5 year old a tablet is an absolutely horrible idea
My kids have waaaay too much screen time, but even then I dread the idea of them having a telly in their rooms, even if they do occasionally get left being babysat by the telly.
That being said, the eldest has one of those kids’ alexas that is signed into my accounts. Nobody his age should have been so excited to hear Ol’ Dirty Bastard being played in the ninja turtles movie, but that’s the way the algorithms crumble.
Edit: since you mentioned bedtime, the boys get a timer type video on YouTube for teeth brushing, and they can both pick a CBeebies bedtime story. Beyond that it’s books or (gentle) music. And I get final say on anything.
Never. There’s also no TV in any other bedroom, or the kitchen.
I know I can’t stop a tablet or whatever at some point in the future.
I just realised, that at 19 and gone to Uni and 16, just gone to 6-form, neither of my kids have TVs. They both had computers from secondary school for schoolwork, the eldest (basically Lisa Simpson) self regulated to minimal YouTube and Netflix type viewing, at reasonable times and the younger one who had to have proper boundaries handed down to stop late night gaming and streaming marathons. Microsoft parental controls on PC are absolutely worthless by the way. Apple time limits work perfectly on iOS and macOS.
I’d say 16/18 when they are basically young adults.