weaning off screen time

not posting this for any judgment, please! just after some advice. my little boy has had all but unlimited screen time since he was little- whether it be cbeebies or whatever I want to watch, because I was a single mum for the first 18 months of his life and sometimes it was the only way I could get things done, and most times I used it for just background noise as I didn't have much interaction during the day. now we live with his dad and we're settling into a family routine, and I really want to reduce his TV time. e.g., earlier I turned it off to put some music on and he screamed at me, and that told me he's too dependent on it, and I want to change that. he's starting nursery next week so obviously that'll help, not being anywhere near a TV for three days a week, but on our days off when we're not going far, does anyone have any advice for how to redirect him when he wants it on all the time- he reads loads of books and independently plays sometimes but after sort of activities you do with your little ones to encourage them to do something else? thanks in advance❤️

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Here for ideas too. For different reasons, our two definitely have too much screen time. My Dec 22 baby is only 15 months younger than his sister and I had really awful PND and my husband works alot so it's just been something to distract one whilst I sorted the other or just something so that I could have a mental break from it all. Now though I know I need to reduce it. Sometimes I'll say we're going to have 20 minutes without TV then we can watch one or two episodes of bluey for example. More often than not though I'll forget and they'll have more. Or I know I have to warn them that I'm turning it off in 1 episodes time etc. But sometimes when I know it'll be a battle, I'll just change it to something more educational like numberblocks or colourblocks, or something that they can join in with like Danny Go so at least they're getting exercise. We're really fortunate to have a big garden which they spend hours in when it's good weather but it's the darker, colder, rainier days that I'm worrying about x

There is no judgement at all!! As I’m also currently cutting screen time too! I was finding my son was having such terrible tantrums and I thought about stopping it. I’m currently on day 4 no screens and already noticing a difference!! Since the weather has been nice we’ve been outside ALOT! Im also here for advice from others on activities as I’m sure I will run out of things soon 😅

@Charly the same here with the rainy days! we don't have a garden but we've an abundance of parks that he loves spending time in, but obvs it's going to be a bit unfeasible to trek up to them when it's throwing it down. my go-to for rainy days is films and cosy days but obviously I don't want that for him, or at least not every day!

@Isabelle oh, amazing! this week is quite busy thankfully as it's settling in week at nursery so he's not going to be at home/around/tempted by the telly much, but it's going to be an adjustment for me too cause I love a bit of crap some days and checking myself to ensure I don't turn it on for him/us just when he's grumpy is going to be hard!

Could you maybe try something he wouldn't be interested in? Switch it up so he doesn't start getting interested just because it's TV? If your wanting it on for background noise something like a radio channel?

@L 💜 yeah I might try this! and yes as for background noise I've started putting my records on, partly for me so my house isn't silent bar me talking to him, and because I know he loves music so it gets him to dance. this evening he did really well. turned it off at 5:20, he shouted at me and the TV, but then I managed to redirect him and it didn't go on again/he didn't ask for it on again before bed. we flitted between stories and dancing and drawing and he did ok! obviously tomorrow will be different as it's more than just 2 hours no TV but we'll see. thank you!❤️

My LB loves watching one video on YouTube then he doesn't care about the TV if it's on. He'll sometimes watch it if it's on but he will scream if we refuse to put 'his' video on so that goes on multiple times a day. It's a song and me and hubby are getting sick of it 😂 I think distraction works best for him, usually his blocks as he's obsessed with them or a ball on a night. During the day we just say do you want to go out in the garden or for a walk to the shops.

I take lots of videos of us doing things and then he watches them, that is primarily his screen time. But I have found it motivating for me because I want to do different things so we can take a nice 1-2 min video. For example, we went nature scavenger hunting twice this week and he loves watching back and then we talk about our day. Of course he watches Bluey, Bob, Duggee etc, but it's nice to mix it up and for him to remember his days x

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