Establishing Screen Time Rules for Kids

Smartphones, tablets and video streaming are just a few of the new technologies that kids are growing up around that their parents never had. Now, more than ever, it’s important that parents build healthy habits with digital devices for the whole family. Our experts offer some practical strategies for balancing screen use in the daily lives of families. 

Work together as a family

It’s a parent’s responsibility to set limits for their children online and offline to establish and teach safe behaviors in the real and online worlds. It’s essential for parents to be good role models. "Kids look up to their parents for what to do so it’s important that they model what they want to see. It’s all about finding balance and establishing really good communication,” says Dr. Scott Goldstein, a pediatrician at Northwestern Children’s Practice. 
 
When coming up with a plan, work together as a family. The American Academy of Pediatrics has a helpful resource called the Family Media Plan, which has a helpful template you can customize to your family’s needs and priorities. It provides prompts to parents and children through different categories of potential boundaries and limits that your family can set around screen time and media use.  

AAP Recommendations: The 5 C’s

The American Academy of Pediatrics Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental Health offers a mnemonic to guide conversations about child media use, with five corresponding age-based handouts to help parents promote healthy media engagement among children of all ages. The Five C’s of media use are: 

• Child: Consider the individual child’s needs and development  
• Content: Assess whether the content is educational or harmful 
• Calm: Avoid using screens as the primary coping mechanism for distress
• Crowding Out: Ensure screen use does not replace essential activities like sleep and exercise
• Communication: Foster open discussions about screen habits and concerns

Dr. Alyssa Cohen, pediatrician and health services researcher at Lurie Children's, says these guidelines can be a helpful framework for discussions about healthy media use in your own family. The goal is to ensure that media consumption doesn’t interfere with a healthy lifestyle, like sleep, physical activity, face-to-face time and healthy eating patterns. Dr. Cohen explains more about screen time in Lurie Children's Kids Wellness Podcast.

The Impact of Media

It is also important to remember that there can be positive and negative effects to media. The goal of parents, healthcare providers, schools and businesses are to help children be good digital citizens by giving them a safe space to develop and foster independence and engage in different experiences. "Make sure they learn about online etiquette, social and personal impact, and what their digital footprint is,” Dr. Unger says. 

Dr. Unger and Dr. Goldstein have recommended these healthy media tips that the AAP endorses: 

• Designate media-free locations such as the bedroom
• Make sure there are media-free times such as mealtimes and driving
• Discuss safe media usage
• Model appropriate use
• Make sure there is a balance

Healthychildren.org is the website backed by the AAP where you can find the media use plan. Dr. Unger and Dr. Goldstein also recommend a website called commonsensemedia.org that provides information on what parents can do besides the family media plan. Learn more about screen time in our Kids Wellness Podcast. 

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