The Mock Turtle

How relaxed are you guys being about screen time? A is getting A Lot, as in minimum 2hrs a day, sometimes more like 4. About half of that is usually this Montessori games thing i have on my iPad, but the rest is just her current YouTube cartoon obsession (Morphle or Simon Rabbit). I'm swinging wildly between thinking 'fuckit' and 'must do better'.

God, that sounds so bad written down. I'm a bit mortified.

Mine have no limit whatsoever at the moment. They have at least that, probably more. It's the Easter holidays so they haven't got school work, they can't go outside much and there isn't really anything to do. I'm not going to make life horrible for us all by imposing an artificial limit on what they want to do. It's a global pandemic - normal rules don't apply. I make them get off devices sometimes and cook with me or read or bounce on the trampoline. Partner plays a nerd-game with them sometimes. But I'm not going to force myself to do craft or jigsaws or anything that will make me want to cry.

Cube watched 21 episodes of Brooklyn 99 today so I can't be mortified

Also, Cube and Betty approached me today to ask if they could do an Endurance Challenge. I was intrigued and thought it would be something interesting but no, they want to try and pull an all nighter. Cube wants to spend all night on his xbox (he's got a childs account and can't speak to strangers) and Betty wants to read and watch that lemony snickett thing on netflix all whilst in a tent in the living room.

I've said yes as it might mean they spend most of the day sleeping and fuck it, it's a pandemic and a one off.

I'm not being nearly relaxed enough on screen time. I've made a rod for my own back by insisting on the weekends being different so I end up inadvertantly making my week days harder. A smidge of routine is helpful. But actually, I'm going to relax much, much more and just let them chill out. Theo has recently got into Horrible Histories so that can do most of his teaching. I think I'd rather they were fat, happy zombies than stressed out/anxious/frightened kids, if that's my choice.

I have done zero crafts. I do know where my limit is.

Theo might like the Who Was Show.

I feel I must point out that I do kick them into the garden regularly and this afternoon I told them to choreograph a dance so it's not all screen time.

In theory I don't really care about screen time right now, but in practice BM is foul if her youtube access is unfettered, so I need to try and instill a modicum of structure to try and combat it. I wasn't going to tell her it was the Easter holidays because school work breaks things up a bit, but she figured it out.

She went to her Dad's for three nights and has come home kind of horrible - the fortnight when it was just me and her, with me ill, we had our moments but in general I was amazed at how well we coped. Now she's back and I'm STILL bloody ill, we're both clashing more.

Mind you, I also found out her Dad wasn't giving her any reflux meds, so now her symptoms are back and today she was scream-crying at the drop of a hat It's ALL MY FAULT Maude and Mildred temporarily fell out in an episode of the Worst Witch, apparently

We had a hard chat when we were out our walk today when she asked me if I thought it we'd be having more fun if she had a sister, or if I was well instead of ill all the time I mean, probably yes to both, but I can't do anything about either.

I keep thinking about parents who have to live with chronic health conditions all the time instead of me and my stupid three week cold / chest infection /asthma flare up / coviddy gangfuckery, and it makes me realise just how weak I am

W has at least that screen time zoom, although he isn't allowed unlimited access because he does get increasingly bored and silly with it. I'm lucky to be able to give myself the holidays off in order to help entertain him though.

I am trying to relax about it but struggling! #needcontrol In fairness, too much gaming affects J’s sleep. I’ve declared today Fortnite and Minecraft free but they can play other games. There’s usually a couple of hours of tv in their day and 1-1.5 hours of iPad/Xbox.

Zoomer wrote: ↑Wed Apr 08, 2020 10:52 pm How relaxed are you guys being about screen time? A is getting A Lot, as in minimum 2hrs a day, sometimes more like 4. About half of that is usually this Montessori games thing i have on my iPad, but the rest is just her current YouTube cartoon obsession (Morphle or Simon Rabbit). I'm swinging wildly between thinking 'fuckit' and 'must do better'.

V is watching LOADS. We rented Trolls 2 and she ended up watching it 4 times across Monday and Tuesday, interspersed with Trolls music videos on YouTube. A2 is also watching lots of Peppa, either on the tv or iPhone. I try to set up activities for them, but because we’re also both working at the same time, we just don’t have time to dedicate to curtailing it and playing activities all day with them. I do try to impose a TV off rule around lunch, for several hours, and let them into the garden/let them play with Lego, paint, bean bags etc, but A2 will often go and sit on A’s lap to grab his iPhone.

I don’t like it but I’m not sure, short of temporarily quitting work what I can realistically do whilst nurseries are closed.

S is the same age as A and he's probably having about 4 hours a day. I just try to intersperse those hours with other things to break it up. It's a long day so I'm fine with that amount. I mean, it's not ideal but it's a difficult situation.

J gets loads, but I know he'd much rather be playing with me.

I'm the opposite to most on here and would much rather sit and do crafts with him, but he gets bored after 5 minutes. I do not enjoy playing cars or trains.

It's a very long day. There's only so much interactive stuff you can do with them. Even at S's nursery they have screen time.

Mine have several hours a day. I hate it and try and make them do other things. During “term time” they broadly accept no screens between 9:30-3:30 but that has gone out of the window this week.

Yes, that's our rule too Squizz. Unless someone is putting on a vaguely educational session on fb or something. I really couldn't face keeping it up over easter though, who wants a term which lasts March to...july? September? For me part of keeping some sort of rhythm is accepting it goes out the window during holidays.

Thanks, I feel better about letting A get square eyes while I get on with things (checking work mails, cooking, cleaning, other fun stuff ) now so.

Rhodonite wrote: ↑Thu Apr 09, 2020 8:14 am I do not enjoy playing cars or trains.

I am fine with playing proper games, trampolining, or running after her on her bike screeching "brake, brake!" Imaginative play is my achilles heel. "Ok, so you be..." is fast becoming my most dreaded phrase.

When W was a toddler nothing made me die inside more than being brought endless rounds of 'tea and food' I had to pretend to eat. Mummy, eat it. MUMMY. MUMMY. EAT. IT.

I'm sorry people are finding it hard. I get up early to try and grab some time alone, and it's really frustrating when I come out of the bathroom to find them stood there and all excited to see me (and then they refuse to do *my* planned exercise and I end up bouncing about to one of theirs ).

Elvis much prefers us all being together, so gets upset if I take Sproglette out for a walk, and there were tears when I took her for a walk and left Sproglette at home. I do find taking them both out usually results in them walking off together without me and I get a bit of a break mentally! Sproglette needs that 1:1 time though, and Elvis does seem to like it once she's got over being torn away from her sister.

Mine are awful if they have too much television, so I'm still limiting it a bit, but they're getting more than usual. They would usually get to watch during the week in the holidays anyway and I'd put in an hour during their "term-time" schedule during my last hour of working time, as that's when they're most likely to interrupt me (and we usually go out for walk when I log off). This week has been a bit more ad-hoc, so I'll tell them to watch a film if I have a planned call as it keeps them away from the study. They play on the X-box, but it's Kinect stuff so they're moving and they have other options like iPad games plus the DS Lite and a Kindle my mum gave them, but they lost interest in them really quickly. They're more interested in going on the laptop to google stuff and do phonics or touch typing games, so they get to do that too.

My children are currently having WWIII, it’s been going on for about an hour. C is screaming and hysterical and won’t leave G alone who is purposefully winding her up. It goes round and round like this and neither of them will leave the other alone. They are not dressed despite repeated pleading, and haven’t done anything at all today. I fucking hate them right now.

I’m on the volunteer rota to collect prescriptions from the surgery, go to the chemist, collect from the chemist then drop them off to the recipients. I’m hoping this takes a LONG time.