As summer has moved along, my boys have started to slip into an electronics coma!
After sleeping in most mornings (if they aren’t off to a camp or an appointment or something previously scheduled) they are really good about getting in their daily run and exercise routine and then getting their list of chores done. What happens after that is when things fall apart!
I am blessed to be a WAHM (work at home mom)…which really means I try to run a pretty good balancing act in the summer. Work, kids, camps, etc. I have the flexibility to run to the pool for the afternoon or take the kids to the park, etc., but there are many days I really need to be in the office. This means the kids need to entertain themselves! At the beginning of the summer they did pretty well finding things to do. But as the summer has rolled along, I have found them slipping to the basement too often for some time on the x-box or grabbing an iPad and realizing two hours later they are still on it or sitting down to play a little Minecraft on the computer and then there goes the afternoon.
These sweet boys are surrounded by electronics that are hurting their minds, crushing their creativity and killing their social skills.
Really, it’s just so easy to pick up an electronic. It takes no thought. It takes no effort.
Of course, from them I hear that I am “the only mom” who doesn’t let her boys have an iPhone or iPad in their hands in the car or bring it to their brother’s baseball game!! My boys tease me about earning the “Mean Mom Award”!! I simply respond with the fact that it is the award I was trying to earn, and simply remind that that they need to look out the car window and watch their brother play baseball. It’s important to be aware of the world around us and not have their faces stuck in front of a screen.
So now, it’s time I crack down at home too. The hour “limit” somehow got thrown out the window this summer, but it’s back with a vengeance! It was much too hard for me to keep track of who has been on what electronic and for how long. I decided to revert back to a system I used with the kids were little: Electronic Tickets.
Each kid gets an hour of electronics a day. They can chose how they want to use their hour. It’s simple and straight forward.
I color code everything for my boys. So I printed them each a set that coincides with their color.
We keep a jar in the kitchen that has their tickets. They grab a ticket, bring it to me, set a timer and off they go for their electronic time.
Ironically, I have to share what happened when I was in the midst of creating their “Electronic Tickets”. One of the boys came to my office and saw what I was doing, and I am sure he had flashbacks of the last time we used them because his response was, “Oh no, not those again!”. I then proceeded to holler to all the boys that we were going to have a mom & son meeting in 15 minutes.
Less than 5 minutes later a boy comes sneaking in my office with a delivery he places on my desk! Followed by footsteps of all of them running to the basement to hit the xBox one last time before our little meeting!
Get a load of the letter! The boys sure know how to make me laugh and fill my heart with joy!
What has happened in the days since the unlimited electronics got taken away? The creativity blossomed! They remember how to entertain themselves. They interact with each other.
They are dumpster diving (in the dumpster from the house that is getting built next door to us) to find materials for the homemade go-kart they are building.
They are reading.
They baking dessert for dinner, without being asked.
They are playing Knockout…together!!
They are boys doing what boys should do!
This is what makes a momma’s heart happy!
Want to try Electronic Tickets with your kids? Grab the link below to download the tickets you would like to use.
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Love this! We have limited electronic time here too. During the school year they can only play on the weekends. And in the summer they get one hour per day. They are good about following that ruling,but they do try to get more out of me from time to time.
And I completely agree…they are more creative and not bored.
Have a great summer!
Trina, thanks for stopping by! 🙂
Thanks for this post! I have three kids (2 oldest are boys) who are 4 and under, and I am really struggling with this lately. I am a stay-at-home-mom, and I definitely lean on the crutch of electronics to give me a few minutes peace throughout my day…sometimes I think it’s the only way I can make dinner! Any suggestions for those of us with kiddos who aren’t quite at the age of entertaining themselves for longer than 20 minutes? Love your blog!
Amanda, those are hard ages to keep their attention for too long. Are there activities that you notice them enjoying more? My oldest daughter always liked the picture books that you found things in and my youngest likes to color and play with blocks/Legos. I would find those things they like most and have them do them at the same time (maybe as a “quiet” time). I learned that if I set it up as a RULE (quiet time) it was a little easier to enforce over time. It’s not always easy at first, though! 😉
When mine were small I had a tiny little kitchen in the dining room ( we never use it anyways) and my daughter would pretend to cook while I made dinner. She also would love to help set the table. My son on the other hand had no desire to play with the kitchen, however, I would give him puzzles to do ( again in the dining room) while I tried to get dinner together.
Hi Heather,
I’m wondering….does the electronic ticket include all technology stuff such as television time , computer time, iPads and iPods even if the iPads are being used to listen to music? Just curious.
This summer for my kids ages 7 &8, i have tried to allow free technology time from 9:00 -10:00 AM (mostly so I can sleep in 🙂 and then the rest of the day they can earn more tech time by reading. Every minute they read they earn two minutes of technology. It worked well initially, but then I started feeling guilty that I was turning reading into a negative for them since they started complaining about having to read which is t what I want either.
We use the electronic ticket to cover all electronics (not if being use to listen to music). There are times when we might want to watch a TV show or movie as a family and I don’t make the kids use their tickets for this.
I have found that since using the tickets, my kids end up reading books just because it’s something to do..no more prompting from me to read!
I am a WAHM, too, and noticed my kids are starting to slip into that electronics-induced, comatose state – I really like this idea! I had limited their time last week and they read books, cleaning their rooms and went out rowing. I would prefer to see them do something beyond staring at games!
🙂 Don’t you love seeing them do something productive!!
Heather,
I have a 10 year old boy who has never had his screen time restricted and we live in the city so I am not comfortable with sending him outside alone (my biggest reason for giving him free rein on whatever he wants to do in the house) and most times I just cannot go out with him so he stays on the XBOX all day. He gets the high majority of his social time talking to other boys on XBOX live as he’s never had good friends even though he talks to lots of kids at school, he’s never had one he’s close with and no one invites him over nor comes when we invite them so I feel bad to restrict his friendships he’s created online (they speak through microphones like a telephone, we can hear him talk and have it set up so the other boys voice comes through the TV speakers so we can monitor who he talks to, he even has adult friends which I like that he can be friends with people 6-60 and have things in common). That being said, the XBOX has really taken over his life, he’s either playing it or watching youtube videos about playing games from the time he wakes up until the time he goes to bed. I am a Disabled SAHM of him and his 1 year old brother so I am generally doing something with my toddler that he has little to no interest in… I know it will get a little better in 2 weeks when he goes back to school, simply because he will be in school all day but at the same time, I will feel even more guilty about restricting his time because he will have worked hard all day at school, come home do his homework and (newly enforced) chores and he’ll want to relax… Do you think it’s best to restrict it all at once or kind of wean him down? I can’t imagine him going from 10 hours a day (yes, I’m ashamed about that!) to 1 all at once, especially since some of his screen time is actively involved in a team effort on minecraft where he has responsibilities to his friends. When he starts school his time will already be restricted to about 4 hours automatically on the weekdays and I can try to plan things on the weekends so we do actually get out more but we live in Maine and winter is coming, we all hate winter, hate snow so we’re definitely not a “let’s go skiing” type of family… Any tips or ideas I could try?
Terri, Can you get him involved in some after school clubs? Or a sport ( swimming? parkour? Indoor soccer for when it’s cold?) Even one day a week at a camp or somethig might really help get him face to face. There are tons of options of things he can do, check your local YMCA or rec center too. Boys definetly gravitate towards the electronics, but I think helping them find something they love in the “real world” helps them learn when things go wrong you can’t just hit the power button and walk away. I’m sure it is worth the initial investment to find some options. ( if finances are an issue many of these places will offer low income scholarships).
Don’t be ashamed that your life is different than that of others. I was the same way as your son, and I have a full enjoyable life and a great family. Enjoy your kids and don’t stress.
Thanks for this! Love the coupons. I will share a link to your post on my site.
Moe
THANKS!!! 🙂
This is SO great!! I ALWAYS struggle with time limits for the boys on their electronic devices, so this is a great solution on how to monitor them! I’ll definitely be using and sharing them! Thanks:)
Thanks, Sarah! 🙂
I love this idea. My boys are 8.5,6.5,4 and I am a SAHM with a 1 yr old girl also. I try to limit there electronic time to 1-2 hours on weekdays on if chores and homework is done but lately that has been slipping. And on weekends they can play freely til 10am (so I can sleep in lol) and then they have to earn time by doing chores.
What kind of chores do your kids do on a daily basis? And how old are they? Thanks
Jen, here’s our post about chores that will hopefully help! 🙂
http://www.sportsmomsurvivalguide.com/2014/06/06/kids-age-appropriate-chores/
I too have a problem with electronics coma in my house not so much with my daughter who is 7 and really doesn’t play more than an hour a week she is very artistic and that’s what she does any chance she gets. My problem with electronics is with my son he is 5 and has adhd and a rare seizure disorder called LGS. Because of the seizure disorder we can’t treat the ADHD effectively. So when I don’t allow him electronics it seems like he spends his time running and tormenting his sister I’ve tried everything to get the behaviors under control. He sees a occupational, physical, and speech therapist every week and also gets these services at school. However nobody has seemed to be able to keep his attention for more than 5 minutes. Any suggestions are appreciated as these electronics are going to ruin my little boy.
this is such an awesome idea. this will help me teach my son so much better. ur awesome
Thanks, glad we could help! 🙂
Thank you for this – it eally resonates and I will try your idea. Btw, I thought when your son came in while you were making the tickets he was going to scold you for being on your own electronic! (My kids assume I’m playing on my phone when I’m checking it for email). To be fair, when I finally deigned to have a look at my son’s Minecraft house I was dumbfounded to discover that along with the crates of treasure and weapons he had installed an entire wall of books! He explained with a shrug, ‘Well, I love books.’ Worlds collide…
Wonderful idea. I restrict screen time too, but often hear that if I restrict they will want it more. Anyways, I don’t like my kids asking for video all the time. I will use these tickets. Thanks for the idea. And do you get back the tickets to reuse?
LOVE it! Thanks for the printable and for the support in not being the only “mean mommy” out there!
What to do if your 3 children combine their tickets for tv time? How do you stop the other 2 from watching? Then 1 hour turns into 3 hours. I know my children will try this, because they’ve done this before.
Haha!! Yes kids can be sneaky! If you have a room in the house that you can close the door, maybe make that the tv room that the kid with the ticket gets to use? It will probably be a little bit of trial and error for the first few days. 🙂
I know this will happen for us, too! I’m thinking of making them each “pay” for the time – that way if one is really not interested in what the other is watching (which definitely happens here, as one kids is generally in control of the remote), they will be motivated to go and do something else. We do have a tv that’s not in our living area, so that may help us out.
Do you think this could work on the husband too?! Sigh… 😉
Hi. I like this idea! Do you set a timer or is it “honor system?” I find when I tell my 10 yr old son 5 more minutes, a half hour later I’m telling him to turn it off! They get so engrossed and have no concept of time or things going on around them. Thankfully my son is not as bad as some other kids we know but that’s only because I’m constantly nagging for him to do something else. Thanks for your help!
Caroline- My kids tend to lose track of time too…we find it easiest if we set a timer (we just use the microwave or oven timer) and then we all hear it go off!
Oh boy! Yes, I see myself using your idea…I have two boys that do the all day tablets and sneak them into bed sometimes. Aaargh!!! Thank you for the suggestion and your site. Gonna have to read the rest of your stories now.