This post is sponsored by Ricky Zoom. All opinions are my own.
Hi friends! Hopefully, your post-holiday blues are gone and you’ve gotten back into the swing of “normal” life. As much as I love the holidays, I always look forward to getting back into a normal routine with the kids. Which kind of brings me to today’s blog post!
Since becoming a parent I’ve gotten several questions here and there about how we manage screen time with our kids…and I am more than happy to share what we do.
With that being said, I am in no way on any kind of soapbox preaching about the right or wrong way to do screen time with your kids. Honestly, there are so many opinions I had about screen time and kids before I became a mom (Afterall, aren’t we the world’s best parents before we have kids?), and most of those have gone out the window. This is just what works for our family….and I’m super interested to hear how you manage screen time with your kids as well!
How We Manage Screen Time: TV
I’m totally ok with our kids watching a little daily TV. Honestly, I feel like that’s one of the perks of being a kid and not being in school yet! Usually, our kids start out with cartoons for about an hour in the morning when they get up. Neither one of them are morning people, so this kind of allows them to ease into the day…ain’t nobody trying to fight with two grumpy kids in the morning. It also gives me a chance to have that 2nd cup of coffee and get breakfast ready in the morning. #priorities Once it’s time to eat breakfast, they know that’s when the TV goes off…and they pretty much do it without argument since that’s our same routine every morning.
I also allow them to watch about 30 minutes of cartoons in the afternoon. They both do independent playtime in their room for about 30-45 minutes in the afternoon….and for Lincoln, that’s hard for him. But I also strongly believe it’s super important. So after their independent playtime, they get to watch a show as kind of an incentive for Lincoln. This is also usually when I’m getting dinner ready, so the timing works for everyone.
We also do Family Movie Night every Friday night…which we all love and look forward to! A movie, cozy jammies, a huge floor pallet, and ice cream..it’s the best!
What do we allow them to watch?
I get asked a lot about what they like to watch! I am kind of picky about what they watch: I like to at least make sure the shows are reinforcing pre-school age academic skills, social skills, or similar. Lately, Lincoln has been really into Ricky Zoom on Nick Jr, which is about a group of motorcycle friends that go on different adventures. It teaches kids about teamwork, community, and friendship…it’s super cute! Plus, I like that it’s available on Nick Jr. and the Ricky Zoom Official YouTube channel.
Special Days/Exceptions
Of course, there are days when we don’t always stick to those guidelines. We’re way more lenient on the TV during:
- Sick days. Come on…that’s one of the perks of being sick right? Plus, I sometimes have to bribe them with a movie just so they’ll lay down and rest.
- Rainy days. We love having movie days when it’s stormy weather outside. We’ll usually make a fort, eat lunch picnic style and watch our favorite movies.
- Holidays. There are so many cute movies and shows that accompany all the major holidays! We love to enjoy these as a family!
How We Manage Screen Time: Other Electronics
I just recently introduced a few apps to Lincoln. One of them is the Ricky Zoom app…just like the show on Nick Jr! Some of the features include Exploring Maxwells Garage and the Rescue Pod, washing the motorcycles, matching and sorting games, and more!
Lincoln loves playing and exploring the app, plus I can comfortably step away if I need to knowing that the Ricky Zoom app is age-appropriate and it has no creepy ads (totally ad-free!) His favorite game on the app is washing the different bikes…so fun!
To check it out to see if it’s a good fit for your pre-school aged child, you can download the app on Apple iOS or Google Play.
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