Screen time

The question of how much screen time is too much--or is there such a thing as "too much" screen time? came up on a local homeschool discussion group, and my thoughts were so varied and all over the place that I decided to try to sort through them here...

I go back and forth on how much screen time I think is too much, with input from the older kids (kids are 13g, 11b, 9b, 5.5b, 3.5b, 4-monthg). Generally speaking, the older kids get 20-30 minutes of game time a day (usually Minecraft or Terraria) and the younger boys get 10-20 (usually PBS Kids or cool math games).

***update 10/25/2015***

A few months ago game time started to become an obsession at my house. I would be asked multiple times a day by multiple children if today would be a game day. How much time? When can we do it? Can we do it now? How about now? Can we play yet? And then when they'd get to do it they would watch each other and game time would drag on all afternoon, leaving cranky kids and a cranky mama.

One day, I'd decided I'd taken enough. And I had.
And that plain little me got a little bit mad.
And that plain little me did a very plain thing:
Threw a fit!
And that fit broke the game time fiasco!

Okay, so that was a really bad re-mix of Dr. Seuss (and it doesn't even rhyme), but the fit part is totally true. I felt a bit like a 3-year-old. I even went so far as to explode, "When I was a kid I played outside! I hardly ever played computer games! And I was happy! And inventive! And didn't bug my mother about game time EVERY SINGLE HOUR OF EVERY SINGLE DAY!!! ARGH!!!!"

I said "no more!" and "if you ask me again you don't get games for at least a week!" and "go outside and explore these amazing 17 acres we just purchased so that you will have so much to do outside at any time of your life!"

Phew! It felt good!

So now we have a new plan: game day is Friday. They get 45 minutes in the afternoon after our field trip and quiet time. And everyone has to play at the same time. They can choose to watch or play, but when the 45 minutes is up, that is the end. Sorry the internet was being slow, time is up! Sorry you had to go to the bathroom, time is up!

Now no one asks me all day every day about playing games--they know when they get to do it, and that is that. And I haven't had any fits. It's a total win-win. !!