We are living in some unprecedented parenting times. In an effort to simply survive the day, we've probably all loosened the grip on the laws of our homes, including TV time. But now that we are months into stay-at-home orders with really no end in sight, we're all probably thinking the same thing: It's time to get things back to order.
After literal weeks of TVs at the very least buzzing in the background, how can we help cut the cord?
For parents of young kids, one mom came up with a genius solution she shared on Reddit.
"I couldn’t STAND to have my 2.5 yr old son asking to watch TV / Movies not only first thing in the AM, but also throughout the day," she noted. "Tantrums. Begging. I hated it."
So, the mom did something about it that was authoritative, clever, and made for a simple limited TV time transition.
"I put up curtains to hide it for out of sight / out of mind," she simply shared.
The only time they revealed the TV was in the late evening when they decided to watch a show, and it's made a big difference.
"This weekend he mostly asked to go outside & go to the yard, and even when we DID watch TV, he played with his toys instead of staring at the screen!! YAY!!"
TV-free parents echoed how just removing the option makes for a limited screentime experience.
"Awesome! My 2.5 year old announced that he needed to go play outside today… at 6.30am, literally the moment he was awake," shared one parent.
The person continued:
"Oatmeal on the front porch it was We don't have a TV on the main floor, probably never will, and the attitude of 'we have the TV on 24/7' is incomprehensible to me. Do whatcha gotta do with TV, I get it, especially right now, you need to work or cook or clean, the only way is the TV for X time, it's not my place to insist on some mystical utopian zero screen time purity. BUT turning it on first thing in the morning until last thing at night.. no, no, thank you, not in this house."
Others shared their limiting TV "hacks" that have worked wonders.
"My son is 4. He’s only allowed to watch tv when it’s dark outside. It doesn’t work when it’s sunny out," one parent jokingly wrote.
Others noted that they wished this would work for their partners too.
"I wish this worked on my boyfriend as well," one user wrote. "I asked him so many times to put on music instead. The first thing he does in the morning EVERY day is to turn on tv for our daughter. And it's on all day long.. I told him plenty of times it should be a 'reward' and not an everyday thing, but he doesn't care much about it. Even when I try to give examples of how creative she has been playing while we visit my mom, that has no tv… It really upset me."
Kudos to this mama for finding a simple solution.
And the fact that it's actually pretty stylish is a super added bonus!
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