Every parent will face this question whether your child is two or twelve: How much screen time is too much? Reid and I have struggled with it lately with all four kids gravitating to the iPad and begging to use our laptops to play games. Its a HUGE struggle! A couple computer games like typing class, ABCYA, (and I’m open to hear your suggestions) are educational and great for kids. But countless studies have come out about the negative results of extended screen time on children. I probably don’t have to school you on this, you’ve probably heard it all and know what I’m talking about. Long days sitting at my laptop and looking at my iPhone give me sore eyes and sometimes even a headache. But the real question is, what do we do about it?
Circle with Disney came out with a device to help parents like Reid and I monitor our kids screen time. Circle is a little white device that pairs with your internet and comes with an app to easily manage every device in the home. First of all, I downloaded the Circle app on my phone. From there, I can set different filters for each kid (so my 9 year old is allotted more time than my 4 year old) for time limits, pausing, and monitoring through usage. I like that I can see where my kids are spending time online. I’m really grateful Circle has not only started the conversation but devised a solution because I’ll admit, monitoring is a full time job and who has that time? I’ve even resorted to hiding the iPad in the kitchen cabinets so the kids don’t find it. (Hopefully they aren’t reading this.) Now I can monitor remotely and they are rewarded with more screen time when they abide by the time limits.
Also, today thru Dec. 22nd Circle is having a promotion of $20 off!