I Let My Kids Have Unlimited Screen Time on One Simple Condition

I have four kids: two five-year-olds, one six-year-old, and one two-year-old. We currently reside in Florida, and I am a SAHM (Stay at Home Mom) and a full-time content creator.

Screens I currently allow my children to use are TVs and tablets. Typically, there isn’t a limit on screen time in my household. But on average I would say my children use screens for about five to eight hours a day.

My children do many different activities, not just using screens. Some of those activities include going outside: Playing in the backyard, going on family outings, going to the beach, and more.

Most of all, my kids’ favorite activities are doing arts and crafts with me and going outside to play with one another. So they have a nice variety of things they do.

My parenting philosophy on screen time is simple: As long as my child is striving for their best in school, I don’t believe there should be a screen time limit on kids.

Kids learn a lot by watching different things on tablets and TVs. I am very big on education; I’d rather that my kids were learning new things by using the tablet or the TV to watch educational material.

I came to think this way by learning different techniques and tools to teach my kids. I’d say it was a natural development for me from learning how to become a parent.

What led to me having a different viewpoint on screen time is becoming a mother to autistic twin boys. I realized that they learn differently, and it was easier for me to teach them different things using the tablet and watching educational sensory YouTube videos.

I do take screen time away when my kids are not doing what is needed as far as education goes. Having the tablet after getting everything done is basically a privilege in my household.

I haven’t had friends or family say anything about the way I handle screen time thus far.

I don’t agree with other parents who feel that screen time is unhealthy, because in this day and age, kids are using computers, tablets, and even TV to learn things.

I feel screen time should be somewhat structured. But as far as taking screen time away completely from kids—that’s ridiculous.

When I was a child, everything had structure, such as when I was allowed to use screens. I honestly didn’t have a limit on screen time though because screens were also used in school, so I encountered them every day.

I believe that had a lot to do with my perspective on screen time and my development as a parent. I learned a lot using the computers, tablets, and also TV at school as well as at home.

So I see that even when children have limited screen time at home, they are still using screens at school to study the different learning materials given anyway.

Jamaya Stubbs is a stay-at-home mom and content creator in Florida.

All views expressed are the author’s own.