Re:Ask HN: How much screen time do you let your kids have?
by Ezodev on Saturday December 13, 2014 @06:43PM
(#8746930)
"I just cannot fathom why parents feel some need to be so controlling about this stuff. It just does not compute for me."
Especially on hackernews. We're (mostly?) programmers, right?
Re:Ask HN: How much screen time do you let your kids have?
by carleeto on Sunday December 14, 2014 @02:44AM
(#8747697)
Personally, it's about teaching a child to actively seek out information vs passively consuming it. I love programming because it is interactive and I learn continuously. I want to teach my kids the joy of learning by doing. Hence the limitation on passive forms or consumption, like the television and the emphasis on activities like story telling, Lego and drawing.
Re:Ask HN: How much screen time do you let your kids have?
by Mz on Sunday December 14, 2014 @04:17PM
(#8749598)
FWIW, I found the very best method to help kids learn to actively do things was letting them do the things they chose to do instead of mom imposing on them her will and deciding for them. But that seems to be an enormously difficult concept to convey to other adults who seem to have no real understanding that the most important ingredient here is personal agency, even if they are only 2 years old and just want to do things that seem rather silly to adults.
Example: Their dad would take their video games as punishment for something totally unrelated and it bred resentment. I took their video games only if they were fighting about a specific video game and I only took that specific video game and lectured them that they were doing it wrong, games were for having fun and if they were fighting with a loved one over a stupid game, they were totally missing the point. They learned to negotiate and cooperate and not fight.
I also sometimes took their controllers during the day because we homeschooled and "10 minute" breaks would turn into hours of video games and they got nothing done. So, for a time, I locked up the controllers during the day. They were given them back not at any specific time (like 3pm) but once they were done with their school work for the day. So working harder got rewarded.
If there was a problem in specific, I addressed that specific problem. But I never arbitrarily limited anything like "screen time." I have zero understanding of what the point of that is. To my mind, unless you specifically think it harms them developmentally (for example, creating eyesight issues), I just cannot fathom why parents feel some need to be so controlling about this stuff. It just does not compute for me.
They are now 25 and 27 and they are wonderful human beings, imo. I am perfectly happy with the results of my parenting efforts.