With Kids, Screen Time Is the New Currency

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I found myself lying in bed at 2 p.m., utterly defeated by the flu, when my 9-year-old son, Jake, nudged me and said, “I know you’re feeling rough. If you let me have some screen time, I won’t bother you.”

I turned to look at him. There he was, a sturdy little figure in a bright blue gaming shirt and plaid shorts, arms crossed defiantly, his messy hair a testament to a day indoors. There was no trace of a smile on his face; he meant business.

My partner, Lisa, had taken our two younger daughters out, leaving me alone with Jake. I’d been nauseous for nearly a day, and while I had agreed to keep Jake at home because he didn’t want to go shopping, I hadn’t realized he hadn’t completed his task list (a series of chores that earns him screen time) and was now ready to pester his sick father for the iPad.

“Did you finish your list?” I asked, hoping for the best.

“I did like… most of it,” he replied.

The moment I heard “most,” I knew he was trying to weasel his way out of his responsibilities. Earlier this year, we bought our kids tablets, believing they would be a great tool for learning. However, the truth was that we wanted a little peace and quiet. There’s definitely something to be said for handing a child a tablet after a long day. When I first became a parent nearly a decade ago, I’d put on a cartoon to enjoy half an hour of silence. With a tablet, I can keep them entertained for hours on end.

And I’ll admit, when all three kids are glued to their screens, my house transforms into a serene sanctuary. It’s blissful. Still, those tiny screens have become as addictive as candy, and while they offer a much-needed break, they’ve turned into a constant struggle to keep my kids from overindulging.

Managing apps, YouTube, and the internet has become part of the parenting landscape. My children don’t watch Saturday morning cartoons; instead, they’re engrossed in videos of people playing games or unboxing toys. It’s a bizarre world that I can’t quite grasp, and it’s far from educational. The amount of mindless content available now is staggering compared to my youth when kid-friendly entertainment was limited to a few hours on Saturday mornings.

To tackle the screen time dilemma, we devised a chart that pairs chores with screen time. My kids aren’t too concerned about money; what they really want is more screen time. So we turned chores into a currency of sorts. Jake can earn time by taking out the trash, cleaning his room, or even helping with the dishes. They have a daily checklist that includes brushing their teeth, getting dressed, tidying up, and doing something creative or active. Screen time has essentially become the main motivator in our household.

I have to confess, my children will go to great lengths for a bit of screen time. Just last week, Jake was happily picking up dog poop in the yard, all for 45 minutes of screen usage. However, this has also transformed them into little schemers. Since acquiring tablets, my daughter has faked illness multiple times, hoping to score some screen time, while my son has fabricated stories about completing his chores. I’ve caught them hiding in the bathroom, claiming to be “busy,” while they stealthily play games.

Sometimes, the negotiations for extra screen time feel like bartering with a street vendor; it’s a constant back-and-forth. It’s impressive to see their negotiation skills at play, but ultimately, we’ve turned them into screen-obsessed little monsters.

So here I was, bedridden and weak, and Jake had picked up on that.

“Tristan,” I said, “if you didn’t finish your list, you can’t have screens. You know the rule.”

His shoulders sagged, and he began to plead, “Please, Dad.”

I raised a hand to stop him. “I’m really sick right now, and I don’t appreciate you trying to take advantage of me. You don’t kick a man when he’s down.”

He opened his mouth to protest, but I cut him off. “We both know what you’re doing.”

Eventually, I helped him realize that he hadn’t left much left to do, and I offered him some extra time if he’d heat me up some soup. “You help me, I’ll help you. That’s how it works,” I explained.

Though he wasn’t thrilled about it, we shook hands, as if sealing a business deal. “It’s been nice doing business with you,” I said, and he grinned before heading to the kitchen.

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Summary

This article captures the humorous and relatable struggles of parenting in the digital age, particularly the challenges of managing children’s screen time. The author shares a personal story about negotiating screen time with his son while balancing the demands of illness and parenting responsibilities. The narrative highlights how screens have become a form of currency in their household, leading to clever but sometimes manipulative behavior from the children.