Why is cutting screen time so exhausting for parents?
Removing screens eliminates the brief window parents relied on to get things done, turning them into the sole entertainer and referee for the entire evening. Struggling to keep children engaged in screen-free activities leaves parents completely exhausted, with no downtime from arrival until bedtime.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Setting strict boundaries and telling children to play independently
- 2Involving children in household chores and cooking
- 3Allowing limited, alternative types of screen time like multiplayer video games
- 4Lowering household expectations and eating simple meals on difficult days
- 5Letting children listen to music using parent's AirPods and phone
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“The downside nobody mentions is that it costs you every evening you had. Screens were not just their entertainment, they were the forty minutes where I got something done. Now the whole night is on. I am refereeing, I am the activity, I am it, from the second I walk in until they are down.”source ↗
“So the kids are better and I am worse, and I cannot tell if that is the trade every parent makes and nobody says out loud, or if I set it up wrong.”source ↗
“Can anyone recommend a small mp3 or music player for a child to take on a plane/car trip to listen to music on?”source ↗
“We don’t do tablets and I was thinking this might be nice for them for our plane travel later this week.”source ↗
“I love doing things with them. But some days feels like I can't get them interested in anything.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 4How to raise a child screen-free and algorithm-free
- 4How to keep kids entertained at a Halloween wedding
- 4What to do when your child is bored in kindergarten
- 8How to set up playdates when you're too busy and don't know other parents
- 6How to stop doing exhausting children's birthday parties
- 8Are we the only ones limiting video game screen time?