It is still school holidays here in NSW and the rules in the house have always been that tech time is an everyday occurrence. But I am so sick and tired of the kids expecting their 'tech time', and when we have a day out bush walking or seeing family, it's like they are pining for it and wondering if they will be able to fit in their tech time that day. Honestly sometimes I wish I could just throw it against the wall and break it.
Have you ever wanted to do that? Or is it just me?
There are 2 of my kids who take it particularly hard when I mention how long they have played and how long they have left.
We have a parental controls on the Nintendo Switch so I can put it on for 30 minutes, and then it just shuts down when the time is up. But so often there is whinging because they haven't had time to go to sleep in their house in Minecraft, or they are in the middle of a game of Rocket League.
When I unlock parental controls because multiple kids are going to play back to back I give them 10 minute and 5 minute warnings... This often doesn't end well because their 60 minutes play time FELT like 5 minutes.
So you can see my love/hate relationship with tech time is heavily leaning to the 'hate' side.
So we have had to lay down the law AGAIN (why do kids forget so quickly?!) about how and when we do tech time.
Rule 1 - You are not entitled to tech time, it is a privilege. Assume you get none and then you will be pleasantly surprised when you do get time. Rule 2 - If you whinge or whine when it's time to come off, you loose it the next day. I honestly CANNOT stand the whine from my primary aged children. Rule 3 - If you watch your sibling you don't get your own time. Please think of me this week as I survive these rule implementations!!! What are the rules around tech time in your home? Stay Strong Mum! Nina x
