Becoming A Screen Free Family In The Age of Distraction – How We Do It!

***Scroll to the bottom for our resource links!

This is a hot topic but today we’re going to share how we became a screen free family meaning no iPad, no tv, no video games, no youtube and what people don’t talk about, which is the weaning phase. 

Seven years ago when I became a mom I was truly just winging it. I knew nothing about a child’s brain. Attention span. Tantrums. Or how screens shrink the gray matter and decision making part of a child’s brain and THAT’S the part that regulates impulse control in the long run. 

It became glaringly clear to me that when I turned off Cinderella for our then 2 year old and she would proceed to tantrum for 20 minutes that I was failing as a Mom. I was imparting my screen addictions onto her and didn’t want her to live her life looking at a screen. 

Now don’t be triggered, this is my story. I’m not judging anyone. I grew up on Fruit Loops and Hey Arnold. 

So don’t get all wild. 

I decided then to cut out screens for good and what I found was that it’s actually 1 million times easier to parent without screens. I get…

Less arguments between siblings,

MORE time to myself and happier & more creative children. My kids have never used the phrase “I’m bored.” They are always finding something to do themselves. 

And if you’re looking to start this journey yourselves this year, there are a few things we did. The first is to cut them cold turkey. I had a talk with my children and told them I’d made a mistake and that there’s a better way to live their life. 

The second step is to look in the mirror. We turned our iPhones into dumb phones. My children won’t catch me looking at a screen if I’m asking them not to. 

The third step is to replace screens with audiobooks. Everyday we have a 1.5 hour quiet time in our house. Each child sits in a bedroom and plays independently and they can listen to an audio book of their choice. 

The last thing is to be a reader yourselves. Children emulate the behavior of their parents, which is oftentimes the hardest part to alter.

Resources & tips to aid in going screen free:

• Unpluq tag: We use the Unpluq tag to turn our iPhones into dumb phones. When our kids go to sleep at night, we “unlock” our phone to upload reels to Instagram, add in stories, etc.! It gives us a time limit even to do that though! It truly has been life changing and we go more in depth on how this has impacted our families in our free course. You can get the Freedom Path Revival free course here!
• Audiobooks: This really got our firstborn into well developed plots, increasing her vocabulary and attention span tenfold! Great ones are the Little House On The Prairie Series, Farmer Boy, Little Women, The Odyssey (Bible One), etc. BUT a great “hack” is this YouTube channel full of them for free! 
• Challenge your kids: We feel like in today’s age kids are simply bored, uninspired, or not challenged enough. There’s not enough work for them to feel they are making progress on something because everythings a click away on our phone. During the down times of the day, our kids will learn Spanish (we try), do handicrafts (knitting, finger knitting, painting, clay molding, build a birdhouse, start a business, etc.) so they actually contribute something to the world or feed their mind. If our children are restless, it’s because there’s not enough “work” to do! Two months ago our 7 year old needed something else. We did a unit study on entrepreneurship for kids and she started a cookie business in our neighborhood. Yes, we helped her bake but everyday she woke up thinking of how to better “market” and sell her cookies to those around her. 
• If your spouse isn’t on board: Reading this, this, this, and this book to educate yourself on the ways screens impact a child (and adults) life is imperative to getting on the same page. I’d always suggest modeling behavior over nagging;)

Other FAQs: We don’t do screens on road trips or in airplanes. Our children don’t ask for them and instead I will make what we call a “play pack” for those times which is just a small bag with things to occupy them (clay molding, play dough, Etch A Sketch, colors, etc.) BUT the times we do use screens are during our homeschool lessons. If we are talking about a volcanic eruption, I will of course show them on my laptop. I usually follow my children’s interests for science and history and we go from there. The other day we were learning about Henry Ford so we watched a short documentary on the assembly line.