Before you do anything… read this

Welcome!

I imagine you’re here because you’re concerned about the amount of screen time your child gets, what they’re watching, how long they’ve been watching it for and how much ‘real-life’ they’re missing out on because of these bloody addictive screens that the world keeps pushing onto our kids!

You and me both.

Hands up who left their then 1-year-old in front of the TV while she was suffering from brutal morning sickness and her baby’s first word ended up being ‘Peppa’?

Hands up who gave up on homeschooling a few weeks (or months) earlier than intended because her baby kept her up during the night, so she let her toddler binge-watch CBeebies and her boys play ROBLOX till way past bedtime.

You name it, I’ve been there and done it. Bought the T-shirt, wanted the refund, went back and bought the same T-shirt and now I have a whole cupboard full of them because life is just too damn hard to be the perfect mum while trying to do it all.

I have four kids (FOUR!), plus I work from home while surrounded by a toddler and a baby (24/7!) until 3pm when I have an additional two school-aged boys to handle. As a result, I have been SUPER slack with screen time.

And, yes, you shouldn’t offer screen time to kids under two and you shouldn’t keep kids over two in front of the TV. Kids shouldn’t have phones or be on social media or play games all night. WE ALL KNOW THIS! But life regularly kicks you in the balls and having kids is hard enough when you also have to be all things to all people ALL THE time!

Right?

So, if this website is one thing, it’s a NON-JUDGEMENTAL space where we discuss tried and tested ways to encourage kids to achieve a healthy balance between screen time and screen-free activities.

You may have left your kids on the screens for too long. I’m sure you had your reasons for giving them a phone too. But I know you’ve always had your kids’ best intentions at heart.

You love your kids and you are doing great! The fact that you’re trying to limit screen time by visiting this website means you are more than great – you are awesome!

So let’s work together to make things easier/simpler/better for ourselves when we’re trying to keep our kids from not becoming screen zombies. Let’s try things out to reduce digital dementia and pick up the pieces and try again if we make mistakes – and we WILL make mistakes – this is a totally new era, one of which our parents haven’t navigated themselves.

Let’s keep trying to limit screen time, offer more screen-free activities, tip the screen scales into educational screen time and see where it takes us. If we have a hard day and we just want to CHILL with the TV on because we deserve to CHILL then SO BE IT! WHO CARES! Our kids won’t die.

But, let’s keep trying to make the world a better place for them – let’s try to give them what we had when we were growing up – never being home, always playing outside, and fostering relationships in real life and not on the phone.

We won’t be able to beat screen time, but we can at least arm ourselves with the knowledge to be more in control of how our kids handle screen time and we can help our kids achieve a healthier relationship with screens too.  

Let’s start there.

Much love,

Leyla xx