Screens, they are a neverending battle for the vast majority of parents. Thanks to 24/7 streaming, You Tube, video games, social media, ipads and phones, kids can entertain themselves for hours on end. When you were a kid, the TV got pretty boring during periods of the day, or the dial up funds ran out, or there was simply no iPads or streaming.

Most of us would agree, we’d rather our kids spend less time on screens, but due to access being almost out of parents’ control, it becomes exhausting to managed. I’ve posted before about some of the things I do, such as passcodes on iPads, no social media and even taking remote controls to work (!), but this one is the most effective for school holidays:

BRIBERY

Call it bribery, call it hostage exchange, call it this-for-that- it is the least painful way to get your tweens and teens off a screen is for them to earn screen time with fun activities and I’m giving you this printable for free to stick up at home.

It’s pretty simple, the kids have to do 60 minutes of any of the activities to get 30 minutes of screen time. Carve it up how you wish, but I would build up 60-90 minutes of screen time earned so everyone gets a break from negotiations! If your child is quite the screen addict, you may find that they are grumpier about having to do the activities, or that they don’t have the attention span or resilience to persist with particular activities. Start easy and don’t give up! You will notice their attention span grow and they will become more calm. And if you think 30 minutes of an activity for 30 minutes of screen time is more achievable at first, I’ve included that version too.

It’s very important to advise your children that this is going to become a new normal, and the reasons why you are doing it.

I’ve chosen activities that are at least more active than passively watching a screen, so you’ll notice that reading and puzzles aren’t on the list. But of course these are fantastic activities to get children off screen and who need a rest after an active day. The quiet is stunning when everyone is chilling and reading!

Board games – I bet they just sit in the cupboard most of the time, right? Get them out and tell them if there’s any bickering, the screen time goes down. Chess is a highly underrated game for tweens and teens, it teaches patience and strategic thinking – keep it on the table over summer and it will draw in grandparents and friends too. Print out the basic rules to help everyone.

Walk – Depending on their age, you can ask your children to walk together around the block, to the shop at the end of the street, or walk with you (and the dog?) if it feels more safe for you. Adults should get 10,000 steps a day and children should get much more if they play enough, with the official recommendation being moderate-to-vigorous activity (anything that makes you huff and puff) for 60 minutes of each day. Enjoy a walk at sunset together and earn the movie night!

Get out all of your sports equipment – whether it’s an accumulation of cheap stuff from Kmart or the decent stuff your child has never really played with, make it a requirement to play with it for a good hour. In the backyard, on the driveway or at the park, anything goes!

Play your musical instruments – we’ve got a ukelele, guitar, keyboard and a recorder (that one’s staying away) at home. Do a You Tube follow-along or print the chords to their favourite songs and get them to master a few songs! My tip is if you are going to get them to follow along to You Tube, make sure they are close to earning their screen time (i.e. they’ve done something else first) so that they don’t abandon ship and start watching their favourite You Tubers. Just focus on the repeatable chords that occur in most pop songs, and play along to the song for full effect. No music? Fill 6 glasses with varying amounts of water and experiment with making a tune!

Bike riding/scootering – if your kids have wheels, get on them. I open up the side gates and garage so they can do a circuit around the house, yours may be old enough to go on a short ride together. Let them take a phone for safety if you want, but buzz them if they stop moving for more than a minute – muhahha!

Painting/drawing – resist the urge to use You Tube follow alongs, and freestyle paint or draw. These paint by number kits are cheap and are surprisingly relaxing and mindful. Use a white crayon to make secret messages and get the receiver to paint over them. Even sharpening the pencils will become a mindful exercise the kids get right into once they are used to doing non-screen activities.

Just Dance – yes we need You Tube or the paid game, but it’s a great way to finish off non-screen time and transition into screen time. Following along to a Just Dance is great fitness for all!

Cup stacking – what an odd suggestion, you say! All you need is some plastic cups (2 dozen) and you can practice stacking and unstacking. It’s become an actual sport and you can purchase the ‘proper cups’ from Amazon. It’s quite addictive, and great for hand-eye coordination. It’s best to do when standing, so kids are using their postural muscles as well. Learn how to start here.

Follow-along fitness – If your child plays sport or dances, sitting around all summer can be very detrimental to their strength, mobility and core strength they naturally build up during the year. However, it can be difficult and expensive to get them into activities, and you want to feel like they are having a bit of a break. There are tons of follow-along videos on You Tube to lengthen out the muscles that have become tight from sitting! I recommend you search ‘follow along’ and ‘for kids’ and view the video first to make sure it is focused on being strong and fit rather than achieving weight loss. I think I’ll have to make a whole other blog about this one, with all of my recommendations!

Karaoke – you don’t need any special equipment, just your favourite songs! You can simply sing whatever comes on the radio. Or if you want to be more sophisticated, print out the lyrics to sing a long to, or do a karaoke/captioned version on You Tube.

Baking/cooking – they develop some life skills and they get a feed! Depending on your child’s age, you may like to assist them, limit them to 3-ingredient recipes, or get them a teen cookbook.

Help with housework – get something other than well-adjusted children out of this exercise, and get them to help you with housework! Just providing it as an option opens up the idea that they can and should help parents around the house. It might surprise you how often they do it. Pairing and rolling socks, hanging up or taking down washing, sweeping, vacuuming, wiping and mopping are all achievable tasks for even the smallest of tweens.

There are more ideas listed on the printable, and you may be able to come up with more when you think about the equipment, resources, needs and interests of your own household.

Remember to show the printout to your kids, have the discussion about the expectations and the why, and you’ll get them on board – especially if remote controls are locked up, the Wifi password is hidden, phones have screen time limits placed on them and the ipads suddenly have a passcode! Stick the printout on the wall for easy choice making and enjoy watching kids be kids these school holidays!