Smartphones have become an inseparable part of our life so much so that they virtually guide us. They keep us on task, while we are engaged in some other work. They can also suck us in, and kids are more affected in their day-today life. If you’re really worried over the screen time your kids are spending on their phones, here we tell you how to keep a tab on their habits without annoying them.
Prior to taking any such step, parents should also look at them as to how they use their phone. Just keep a close watch on your phone usage and action, and sort out how much time you spare with your smartphone as a tool, and how much time you spoil on it idly. Now, you would have got a fair idea of the time you generally waste. If you wish to cut it down, you can also go for a parental control app to lock off your idle time for a few days. I am sure this would be noticed by your kids.
After this little experiment, you can set a family schedule for screen time with a little bit of flexibility. The schedule set for the whole family should also be monitored by every member so that it is adhered to by everybody and those who flout should be held accountable. In such an experiment if your children have a say, and you abide by the same rules, they will no doubt follow your example.
Sometimes, kids defy the rules set by their parents or rather derive pleasure in flouting them. In such a situation, you simply want to take some harsh step to check your kids by shutting down their phones, which can be done through parental control apps. This can be useful in keeping phones locked off and can also be unlocked for a certain time in the day. Kiddoware has several such options which parents can use in cajoling their kids. They can also make their kids understand the reason for doing so while mentioning their conversation on the internet and with whom they are talking.
There are some ways too, especially, if you feel your earlier steps failed to put a check. You can resort to the option of taking the phone away completely or simply disable a few functions with software or physically. This should be done if you ascertain that children have racked up a large phone bill. You can pull out a SIM card, or you can delete a few apps or block them from being reinstalled. Such action would be a bit drastic, but you should go for it when there is no other solution to resolve the situation.
Notably, parents must explain why they are resorting to such action, while cautioning the kids which rules were broken and how long they have to bear with it.
Using the right tools, timely conversations with the right attitude will certainly have an impact on the screen time of your kids, who will understand when to use and when not to use screens. The use of Kiddoware’s safe browser can be one helpful tool in saving your kids from becoming prey to cyberbullying or sexist content. The screen time apps are no doubt serve your purpose.
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